A Different Kind of Hero
by Regas 27
Summary: Superheroes don't exist in Sakura Haruno's world, it's every dog for himself, but when Mr. Hatake is determined to prove her wrong, she'll find out that there are superhumans willing to care for the sake of others - AU Highschool - anti-bullying
1. Chapter 1

**A Different Kind of Hero **

A/N: I was inspired by something I saw, and I had to write this! It's pro anti-bullying and stuff. High School AU, and the rookie nine are all around eighteen-ish...If everything goes according to plan, this will be better than Trippin' could ever hope to be.

So please enjoy!

**~xxx~**

Chapter 1

**~xxx~**

"Class, let's settle down now…" A stern voice yelled out over the riotous noise coming from the small class before her.

The children, just barely reaching the age of men and women moved across the room and sat in their desks, falling into order to begin another school year. Their last year. A few laughed and joked about how they were going to do just enough to pass as they waited for the bell to ring, while others talked about their plans for the future and what colleges they had been accepted into.

"So what school were you accepted into, Sakura-chan?" Naruto Uzumaki asked with a light laugh in his voice, his chin held high a wide smile plastered across his face.

Sakura looked up from the book in front of her, "Um, Konoha University. I received the letter a few days ago. What about you and Sasuke?" She inquired with a light smile as she adjusted her glasses on her nose.

The raven-haired Uchiha snorted, "Ivy league, huh?" He said amused, "The dobe and I got into KCC. We aren't near as smart as you."

"You're just lazy Sasuke, you could've very easily been valedictorian this year if you'd put some effort forth." She told him firmly, closing her book with a snap. "The community college isn't that bad. Especially if you guys keep playing sports. Maybe you'll be accepted to a sports college later on."

Naruto let out a laugh, "You're just saying that, Sakura-chan. Miss I-get-an-A-in-everything!"

"No, really! Sasuke is soccer captain this year, and you're captain of the football team and star quarterback. I'm crazy proud of you guys!" She insisted with a wide smile.

"Well, you'll graduate with a perfect one-oh-oh this year if you keep your grades up, Sakura. Valedictorian is within reaching distance to you, we're even more proud." Sasuke ruffled her hair as the bell rang.

She mouthed thanks to them before turning back to face the white board in front of the room; where their first period English teacher stood, marker in hand.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Ms. Sannin; most of you might know my husband from last year in math." Tsunade said smoothly her voice like hard as nails. "I will not be as lenient as Mr. Sannin, and I will not be near as fun. You will have homework; you are expected to do it. If you can do that, we should get along just dandy."

Sakura rolled her eyes and looked back at Naruto scribbling in his planner. She glanced to Sasuke who was staring at her with a sarcastic smile on his face. Senior year was going to be a blast.

"Now as I call you up I will be giving you your textbooks, you are expected to bring them to class every day; and we will be using them often." Tsunade told them as she sat at her desk, stacks of textbooks resting on top of it. "Shino Aburame?"

Naruto tapped Sakura on the shoulder as students were called up one by one to pick up the ten-pound books that would be their best friend in English class their senior year. She took the note in his hand slowly and opened, scanning the words it said quickly.

_This should be fun, right?_

She giggled lightly and looked back at him and shook her head.

"Sakura Haruno?"

Sakura looked from Naruto to Ms. Sannin at the front of the room and stood up, trying not to trip over the back-packs and purses scattered along the aisle from students that had not been to their lockers yet.

She smiled at Tsunade and nodded her head as she took her book. She rolled her eyes and pouted at Naruto and Sasuke as she walked back to her desk. They both started mock-laughing at her.

She sat down and flipped open the cover to sign her name; she read them silently, attempting to see if she knew anyone that had had the book before her and to see if anyone had left any comments on anyone else's name. There was a system among the students, if you got good people in your book, you would have a good year in that class, if not it would suck.

_Anko Mitarashi_

_Kakashi Hatake_

_Kurenai Yuuhi _

_Itachi Uchiha _

_Neji Hyuuga_

Sakura's brow rose, how old were these books? Itachi had it and people before him? It was hard to believe that Sasuke's older brother was only the fourth person to have the book. What scared her more was that Anko Mitarashi was her gym teacher, and was pushing forty; give or take a few years.

She signed her name in the column and began flipping through the pages; some were sticky with unknown substances and some were torn and taped back together. All in all, in her opinion it was in pretty good shape.

"Hey Sakura-chan, who's in your column?" Naruto asked signing his name quickly in the last free space on the cover.

"Um, Miss Mitarashi, a Kakashi Hatake, Miss Yuuhi, Itachi and Neji. Not many people."

Sasuke grunted, amused again, "Itachi passes with great grades, nothing like yours but better than mine; and having last years valedictorian's book? You're year will be great, Sakura."

"Yeah." Naruto agreed with a reassuring nod, "Neji was super smart. I've got Iruka-sensei in mine, I should do alright. What about you Sasuke?"

"Rock Lee and Kiba's older sister I think… I'm screwed."

Sakura smiled and ruffled his hair as the bell rang for the next class. "You're going to do fine, Sasuke." She said gathering her bag and textbook. "What do you guys have next?"

Naruto looked down at his schedule after throwing his backpack on, "I've got Business Math with Mr. Maito, goody. You guys?"

Sakura shook her head as they started down the hall, "I've got World History with Mr. Shirianui."

"Health with Asuma. We all have Chemistry third, right?" Sasuke asked quietly as he opened his locker and tossed the English book in.

Both of his friends nodded, "Yup with a Mr. Hatake?"

"That's the one. He's the new teacher right?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, granny says he's a real weirdo though. Always talking to himself and drinking water, not that she has much room to criticize but she says he freaks her out. She said she had him as a student and that he hasn't changed too much."

Sakura hummed in response as Naruto rambled on about what his legal guardian thought about the new teacher. "I don't think she should be so quick to judge him, though, you know what I mean?"

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah. You're granny needs to cool it on the insults for a bit, dobe."

Naruto shook his head, "You know she won't listen…Hey, heres my class. I'll talk to you guys next period." He waved his good-bye and went into Mr. Maito's class room.

Sasuke looked to Sakura; "I should probably get to class too," He said nodding to the room across the hall, "See you in a bit."

"See you." She called quietly before walking into Genma's room with a smile.

Genma looked up as she walked in just as the bell rang, "Cutting it close, just like always?" He asked her with a laugh; his drawl a pleasing change to Tsunade's tuff-as-nails half scold.

She nodded and laughed with him, "Oh yeah, all I need is a repeat of government." She told him with sarcastic amusement in her voice as she sat down at a desk in the front of the room.

Genma stood, "Alright, I'm Mr. Shirianui, better known to most of you as Genma-sensei. This is World History. I don't really care what you do in here as long as it isn't vulgar and get me fired, oh and you have to pass, other than that have at it. I expect you to listen when I'm teaching, and I expect you to pay attention for how ever short a period that may be…I'm not terribly strict on the rules so let's keep it clean. A happy Mr. Shirianui is a nice Mr. Shirianui, let's keep it that way."

Sakura had to shake her head, amused as he rambled on about the requirements of his class.

When he was done, he turned to his chalk board and pulled down a map of the world. He turned to the class, "Alright, this is a map. It's of the world."

One of the underclass men raised their hands, "Yeah, what about it?"

"This is what we're learning about, kid. Now if you'll open the textbooks sitting beneath your desks you will see that there is a map inside of there too, this map will be your best friend if you study."

"And if we don't?"

"Then you'll probably fail the easiest class in your schedule."

"Oh."

"Yeah, Oh." Genma mocked. "Now your homework for tonight is to know the capitols of the four main countries and at least three minor. Is that clear?"

"Yes." The class answered in unison.

He nodded with a smile, "That's all for today. Tomorrow we start learning about the history of the Land of Fire and Wind. Be prepared, bring a notebook."

Sakura shook her head and pulled a notebook from her bag, scribbling down her homework before ripping the page away and taking it to Genma. She held it out with a smile and he took it reluctantly.

"You always were the smart one, Sakura-chan."

She blushed slightly, "No, just the one that remembered the best."

"Isn't that what smart is?"

"And they let you teach…"

"I know, right?" He said with a laugh, "Well, there's your first one-hundred of the year, pinky. Keep it up."

She straightened up with a wide grin, "I intend to."

He nodded, "Yes. I'm sure." He looked to his computer screen, "So what do you have next period." He asked, his fingers flying across the key board, typing up next weeks tests.

"Chemistry with Mr. Hatake. What do you know about him?"

Genma's dark eyes peeled themselves from the computer screen, "He was my best friend in high-school; he's a pretty cool dude in my opinion. I was shocked when he e-mailed me and said he was going to be teaching here. I think you'll like him though, so will Sasuke."

She smiled, "Good. Tsunade said he was a creep."

"That's because he nearly failed her class all those years ago. He didn't exactly pay attention."

"How ironic."

"Indeed." He looked up at the clock as the bell rang. "Well I'll see you later then, pinky."

"Good-bye Mr. Shirianui. See you tonight." She waved as she headed down the hall to chemistry.

If she were honest, she'd say she was skeptical that the man writing across the white-board in big sloppy letters could be only as old as Genma; that is until he turned around with that crooked smile plaster across his face. He looked even younger than Genma, minus the full head of unruly silver hair.

"Hello!" He cheered with a wide grin.

"Hi." She greeted him quietly, "I'm Sakura."

"Nice to meet you Sakura, I'm Mr. Hatake."

She couldn't help but stare at the thin rims of his glasses and how the off-shaped rectangles framed his eyes. This guy was over thirty? Where the hell had she been when he was a teenager?

Sakura had never once had a crush on a teacher, and she was sure that she'd never wondered what one looked like at her age. She was attracted to him she realized. Is that why did she feel utterly pathetic as she sat down, still staring at him; she wondered? He was dressed fashionably, a grey undershirt with a dark-grey dress shirt and grey pinstriped vest with black slacks that could rival Sasuke's favorite pair of loose skinny jeans; his hair was messy but still looked reasonably tame, and those shoes. She'd actually paid attention to his shoes. What teacher wore converse? He did, obviously.

She smiled at the doorway as Sasuke and Naruto walked through, the bell ringing as they took their seats behind her and to her right.

Kiba Inuzuka let out a howl of laughter, "Look, the homo is in this class." His group pf friends started laughing as he made himself known about the room, and his dislike for Sasuke blatant.

Sakura stood and turned on her heal to face him, "Don't you ever talk about him that way, Kiba!" She yelled, ignoring the raised eyebrow expression she got from Mr. Hatake. "He's my best friend and more of a man then you will ever be; do you hear me?"

Kiba sank in his seat, "Yeah, jeesh, no need to yell, nerd."

"At least I have a brain." She hissed before sitting down and turning to face the teacher a fake smile glued to her face.

Kakashi looked to Sakura then to Sasuke and Naruto before looking to Kiba. "No derogatory statements in my classroom or you will be suspended. Is that understood?" Kiba nodded his head and looked down at his desk in fear of looking up to Kakashi's death gaze.

"Okay. I'm Mr. Hatake. I teach chemistry, welcome to my class." He smiled again, "This should be an easy class if you listen to me, take notes and pay attention. I don't give out much homework, once or twice a week maybe?" He looked at the board. "Okay, lets see what you know, what makes up an element?"

The class stayed silent and he frowned, "Ah, come on; don't tell me my very first class is the silent one? Someone has to know, what about you, Sakura?" He asked her with a pleading smile on his face.

"Atoms?"

"Exactly correct!" He told her jumping to his board before scribbling the word atoms with an arrow after the s, "And what makes up an atom?"

Sakura looked around before answering, "Protons, Neutrons and Electrons?"

"Yes, correct! Now here is a tricky one, what is the smallest sub-atomic particle of an atom?"

Sakura shook her head. She had no idea and watched as Sasuke raised his hand slowly.

"Yes?" Kakashi called on the boy to Sakura's right.

"Quarks, right?" His voice shook as he asked the question, nervous of Mr. Hatake's reaction.

"Yes! You guys are a smart group! I'm impressed." He told them smiling. "We're going to go around the room getting to know a little bit about eachother now; there isn't enough time to finish the notes, so we'll start tomorrow. I ask one of you and then you call on someone else until there aren't any more people left to choose." He scratched at his chin, "Sakura, what's a random fact about you?"

"Um…I live with my sister?"

"Alright, that's a start, now call on someone else."

She looked to Naruto, "Naruto, what's your favorite thing?"

"You and Sasuke and Ramen. Sasuke what's your favorite color?"

Kakashi smiled and nodded his head as Sasuke answered.

"I like black. Um, Gaara, what's your least favorite food?"

"Anything Miso…"

* * *

><p>Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto sat at one of the few small round tables as the lunch bell rang. Naruto pulled a clear container of ramen from his bag, and Sasuke pulled a container filled with sushi and dango.<p>

Sakura smiled as she pulled money from her pocket, "I'll be right back." She went into the lunch line and sighed as she stood waiting to get her food.

"Well, hello again Miss Sakura." A smooth, baritone voice said behind her.

She turned and smiled as she came face to face with her quirky chemistry teacher, "Hello Mr. Hatake." She greeted politely.

He smiled down at her, "Hows your first day of senior year going?"

"It's going pretty good," She told him as the line moved forward and she picked up one of the trays, "Hows first year teaching at Konoha High going?"

"Well, I can honestly say that a lot of my classes aren't what I expected. I suppose I should've figured as much though." He took his tray from the lady at the counter with a nod and simple thanks. "Does Kiba Inuzuka always say things like that to your friend?"

Sakura looked up at her chemistry teacher, "Today was mild, Mr. Hatake, I won't lie. He can be a lot nastier in the things he says about Sasuke." She reached forward and took a small container of rice from one of the ladies running the lunch line.

"I was proud that you stood up for him." He told her coolly taking a bowl of rice as well. "It takes a strong person to stand up for themself and an even stronger person to stand up for someone else."

"Sasuke is my best friend, along with Naruto. I won't tolerate it when someone puts them down like that." She said, very seriously looking him in the eye. "It's wrong."

"I agree." He said taking a plate of sushi, "I was surprised when you stood up, I guess. You did a good thing."

"Thanks." She smiled at him before handing the cashier her money. "I'll see you around." She said to him quickly before heading to her table to eat with her friends.

Sasuke looked up, interest sparkling in his eyes, "You and Mr. Hatake seemed pretty into your conversation. What were you talking about?"

She shrugged, "He just wanted to know if Kiba was always that offensive, and he said that he was proud that I stood up…He's a little on the weird side, don't you think?"

"Mmm, not really but he seemed to take a liking to you, Sakura-chan…" Naruto said in between mouthfuls of noodles, "You'd better not start blowing smoke up his ass to keep your grades up."

"Oh please, like I'd need to be a teachers pet." She scoffed sarcastically, "I can handle my own grades, thank you very much."

Sasuke shook his head, "Someday, some topic will trip you up…"

"Until then, Sasuke, I'll keep my perfect one-oh-oh intact and in order."

Naruto laughed, "Times a ticking Sakura-chan…"

"My watch is broken."

Sasuke and Naruto both let out giggles of amusement as she tapped her wrist and mocked checking the time.

Sasuke smiled at her, "One-oh-oh is hard to keep up, girlie. I'm wondering if you aren't some kind of super genius."

"That or Genma is giving you all the answers, tell him and Shizune I say hi, by the way." Naruto smiled snapping his chop-sticks in half.

"Will do."

* * *

><p>Sakura couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as final bell rang and she got to leave her study-hall and school for the day.<p>

She made her way through the throngs of people and made it to her locker to drop off her textbooks. She slammed the door shut and turned to find Sasuke and Naruto before walking home. She found them standing outside of the entrance at the top of the steps talking to Naruto's girlfriend Hinata.

"Hey guys." She said with a smile.

"Hey." They answered in unison.

Sakura tucked her hair behind her ear before shifting her weight to one foot, "So what's up?"

Naruto grinned taking Hinata's hand, "We're going to the movies later, and Sasuke is going to Ichiraku's with Itachi tonight."

Sakura looked to Sasuke, "You're with Itachi tonight? I thought you were with your uncle?"

"I was, but he got called out on a business trip early, so I'm with Itachi this week and next." He smiled, "It's cool though."

"Oh. Genma's coming over for dinner again, anything you guys need?"

"Nah, I think we're set for now. See if you can get some info on Mr. Hatake though…"

Sakura nodded as she started for the steps, "Can do. See you tomorrow."

"See ya'."

"Bye."

Sakura waved goody-bye and turned onto the sidewalk as she slowly walked home. She sighed as she watched the cracks in the cement pass underneath her feet. As soon as she got home, she decided, she was taking a nap. She needed a nap.

She stomped her way up the front steps to her house and opened the front door before slamming it shut behind her, her bag falling to the third step on the staircase before her. She turned and meandered into the kitchen where her older sister Shizune stood cooking over the granite top stove.

"What's for dinner?"

Shizune smiled at her younger sister, "Pasta. Don't worry though, I'm making you chicken, it's baking right now."

Sakura stood on her toes and kissed her sister's cheek, "You're the best Ni-chan."

The older girl let out a laugh, "Damn right I am." She tapped her wooden spoon on the edge of the pan before setting it on the counter, "I want you offline at six, alright? Dinner at six-thirty. How was school?"

Sakura shrugged, "It was okay. Kiba started with his shit again, but it was alright."

"Genma said that Kakashi was teaching chemistry this year?"

"You mean Mr. Hatake?"

"That's him. I graduated with him, so tell me, has he changed much?"

Sakura furrowed her brow with a confused smile, "How would I know?"

"Oh right. Is he really good looking, and does he just kind of seem really up beat but really reserved?"

"You hit the nail on the head. He is soo good looking."

"Always was, Sakura. Does he still where that dark blue bandanna around his neck?"

"It was in his back pocket."

"And you would know this how?"

Sakura sighed with a giggle, "He has such a nice ass."

"You are my sister."

Sakura ducked as her sister reached out to ruffle her hair, "Nuh-uh, not this time." She stood back up and turned for the doorway, "I'm going upstairs…" She called leaving the kitchen.

She ran up the stairs on her toes, trying not slip and fall down when her feet met the hard wood floor landing. She went and opened her door and closed it behind her as she entered her room, turning on the lights.

She smiled as she looked at the newest picture on her wall, one of her, Naruto and Sasuke having a whip-cream fight in the livingroom downstairs. It was a nice addition to her already covered off-lime green colored walls.

She opened the small blue stand setting next to her bed and pulled her lap-top from it, turning it on with a quick press of a button. She scooted to the center of her queen-sized bed and kicked her shoes off before sitting cross-legged in front of her computer.

She typed in the name of her favorite music site and started listening to music; a mix between heavy metal and hard rock. Sakura started humming the song as she opened another task and started typing in her journal.

She jumped when someone knocked on her door, nearly two hours later. "It's open."

The door slowly opened and she smiled as Genma walked in, "Hey girlie. What's up?"

"Nothing…" She told him, minimizing her writings. "Just listening to music."

He smiled and crawled onto her bed, sitting across from her the same way. "How was school?"

"It was pretty good. I did like Mr. Hatake…he's….different."

"He's quirky."

"Exactly."

"You didn't even see the whole of it, Sakura." He laughed. "You'll really like him though. He wanted me to ask you if you were doing alright, too."

She looked up from her screen, "What?"

"He said that Kiba had said some stuff earlier and when you two talked about it, you seemed in a hurry to get out of the conversation. He just wants to make sure you're alright."

She looked back down, "Tell him I'm fine. I just wanted to eat my lunch."

Genma smiled, "Okay. Shizune said to tell you it's almost time for dinner."

"Yeah, I've been watching the time." She told him quietly. "Do you think I'm a nerd?"

"Not at all. I think you're just a girl whose memory is too good for her own good."

She smiled and laughed, "Thanks that makes it so much better."

He tapped his chin in though for a moment. "Let's put it this way. Do you feel like a nerd?"

"Sometimes."

"Is it because someone else put that notion in your head?" He asked, leaning back on his hands.

She shrugged, "Maybe."

"There's your problem. You let someone else define you. Don't let them do that, Sakura, you are your own person and no one else can tell you who or what you are."

"Thanks, that actually does make me feel better."

He winked at her, "That's why your sister dates me."

"Because you give good advice?"

"Because I'm that good."

"Full of yourself much?"

"All the time." Genma laughed, "Kakashi actually told me that when we were in school…come on, let's go eat. I'm starving." He took her hand and dragged her from the bed.

Sakura smiled at her chemistry teacher's words as she followed him downstairs into the dining room and took her seat at the small round table; the plate in front of her steaming with Shizune's amazing cooking.

"Smells good, Sis." She commented, wrapping her fork with spaghetti. She took a bite and sighed with content, "You should be a chef, not a doctor."

Shizune laughed and started eating as well, "But I like being a doctor, cooking is another thing." She told her sister as she wrapped her fork again. "How was school today, guys?"

"Pretty good," Genma answered eyeing Sakura, "How was chemistry with our old friend, Sakura?"

"It was alright. Mr. Hatake seems nice enough."

"He's awesome once you get to know him."

Shizune looked to Genma, "Maybe I should have him over for dinner later this week! So we can catch up and stuff, what do you say?"

"I say I love that idea, baby."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Now I get to eat with the historian, the surgeon and the science geek. Goody."

Shizune looked to her sister, "Hey. Two of those people live here, girlie."

"Yeah, yeah. What's up with his scar though?"

"Car accident his senior year of High-school. He was driving himself and one of our friends, Rin, to school and a snowplow hit them head on because the driver was intoxicated. He lived, but Rin didn't make it…" Genma murmured as he sipped at his glass of water. "It was really hard on him…and I'm surprised he bounced back as easily as he did."

Sakura nodded and hung her head.

"Yeah. He's always been a trooper." Shizune commented slowly, "Do you have his number, babe?"

Genma smiled, "Yes." He smiled to Sakura, "I got dishes tonight, Sakura."

Sakura smiled at her sister's boyfriend, "Okay then. I hate cleaning up on pasta night." She stood nodded thanks and started upstairs.

She crawled onto her bed and opened her writings back to full screen before smiling and moving her fingers across the keys.

_On the matters of discovery, I seem to have made a new one. A Mister Kakashi Hatake once perceived by myself as uncannily content, now seems to hold a new air of mystery. For a man so high-spirited, his past deems him a darker manner that seemingly eludes his ebullient-self._

_This leaves me with a new question to be pensive of; how much pain lies behind those charcoal eyes?_

Sakura saved her work, and re-opened the tab to listen to music. She wanted something that would fit her mood. She smiled scrolling down and clicking on a song that she hadn't listened to in a while.

She lay back on her pillows, pounding music blaring; thinking about how peculiar a man Mr. Hatake was. Dinner later this week was going to be weird, she decided, it was going to be so awkward, and with her luck she'd probably end up doing something stupid to embarrass herself. It was going to be just another one of Shizune's great ideas.

* * *

><p>"Okay, I want you to take your notebooks out. You only need to copy the stuff on the smart board…" He clicked a small remote in his hands and tossed it back to his desk, and the days notes were projected onto the screen attached to his whiteboard.<p>

He smiled and clapped his hands together, "Alright. This is an introduction into matter; almost everything you'll ever encounter has matter. It has mass and takes up space, can anyone think of anything that doesn't have matter?"

Naruto raised his hand slowly, "Water?"

"Not quite," He answered with amusement in his eyes, "Water has a lot of matter, it makes up most of the earth, most of us. Any one else?"

Sakura slowly raised her hand after a moment of awkward silence.

"Yes, Sakura?"

"Um…Light? I mean we can see it and stuff so…"

"That's exactly right! Light doesn't take up space, but it fills it, and it doesn't have mass. It's not like every time we turn the lights on it's like giving you guys' fifty pound backpacks to wear. That would kind of suck, don't you think?"

A few of the kids laughed as he talked to himself, and Sakura couldn't help but smile as he got into his subject.

He popped the top off of one of his markers and wrote out in big letters on the board:

_Matter _and then two arrows stemming from that labeled _Substance _and _Mixture_

"All matter can be split into two categories and then sub-categories from there." He told the class as he changed the screen with a tap to the board, "We'll start with substance first. Does any one know what a substance is?"

The class stayed silent and stared at the man like he was from another planet and speaking in a different language.

He rolled his eyes, "Looks like you guys need to wake up a little more, let's go, come on stand up." He made a rising motion with his hands. "It's not that early."

Kiba scoffed, "Yeah to you. Nine-thirty is pretty damn early to some of us." He slowly got to his feet, "It's hard to answer too when you stuck looking at that damned hairdo, it reminds me of a chickens ass." He sneered looking at Sasuke, "Just looking at it makes me want dick for breakfast."

Sasuke's face paled and his head dropped, his gaze going to the floor. Kakashi watched as Sakura turned to confront the young Inuzuka before he could get any words in edgewise.

"I told you, Kiba, to stop it with the comments and the bullshit." She hissed angrily, "There is nothing wrong with whom he is. Love is love and it has no gender, so why don't you shut your face before I shut it for you."

Kiba smiled to the guys standing around him, "I'd like to see you try, Nerd."

"That enough!" Kakashi interrupted as Sakura went to move towards Sasuke's antagonist. "Kiba I told you absolutely no derogatory comments in my classroom down to Mr. Sarutobi's office now, as for you Sakura, I'd like to talk to you after class." His voice held a hard, strict tone that rivaled even Tsunade's teacher voice and it made Sakura shudder with nervousness.

Sakura sat down quietly as Kiba moved his way to the front of the classroom and out the door. Kakashi looked to the clock and back to the notes on the board before looking back at the students standing uncomfortably in front of him.

"Pack it up guys, we'll finish this tomorrow." He sighed, sitting down at his desk. "Sakura come up here." He signaled with a curl of his fingers.

Her face went red as she walked up to his desk. She tugged at her shirt, her heart racing with the nervous knowing that she was probably in trouble. Shizune was going to kill her.

"Yes?"

"Why haven't you or Sasuke taken your problem with Kiba to the principal before if it's this bad?"

She shrugged, "Sasuke doesn't like making a big deal over it even though it eats at him. It's not just Kiba though…some people don't understand that it's how he is, he doesn't choose to be that way."

"It bothers you though, right?"

"Well yeah. He's my best friend, Mr. Hatake." She tugged at her hair lightly, needing something to do with her hands. "It irks me to no end."

"Mmm…I see. Next time it happens I want you to tell someone if there aren't any adults around, okay?"

"Okay."

He looked to the clock as the bell rang, "You'd better get to class."

She nodded and grabbed her stuff off of her desk before leaving for Health class with Asuma. She walked into the class room and took her seat next to her long time friend Ino Yamanaka.

"Hey Pig, what's up?"

The blonde shrugged, "Bored out of my mind. Saw Kiba in the office, what's up with that?"

"He keeps messing with Sasuke and it pissed Rm. Hatake off." She tugged her notebook from her bag, "What'd he say?"

"He said he was going to kick someone's ass…"

"What?" Sakura's eyes widened. Oh no…

Ino nodded, "Yeah, he said when final bell rang he was starting a fight, you don't think he'd start one with you, do you?"

Sakura shook her head as Asuma started teaching. It wasn't her she was worried about.

As soon as class was over and lunch bell rang, Sakura rushed to Mr. Hatake's room to catch him before he took lunch as well. She nearly ran into him as he was leaving his room.

"Why, hello, Sakura-chan. Can I help you?"

She nodded, "I think Kiba is going to start a fight with Sasuke after school today…" She told him, tears nearly forming in her eyes. "I don't want him to get hurt."

"I won't let that happen, Sakura." He told her reassuringly, his hand squeezing her shoulder lightly. "Do you know when?"

"I heard at final bell." She hung her head, "I feel pathetic tattling like this…"

"It's not tattling it's the right thing to do. Trust me." He smiled warmly at her and stood up straighter, "Hello Genma."

Sakura turned to her sister's lover. "Hey." She said with a weak smile.

"Hiya, pinky. Hey Kakashi." He smiled from ear to ear as Sakura, "Don't tell me you're the one asking him to dinner to save me the embarrassment?"

She shook her head, "Uh, no. I've got to get to lunch now. I'll talk to you later on, bye Genma, Mr. Hatake." She waved before heading towards the cafeteria.

Kakashi looked to Genma, "She really cares about her friends, doesn't she?"

Genma nodded, "You have no idea, buddy. They practically live with us they're so close." He looked to his friend, "People judge her a lot because of her grades. Sasuke is judged because he's gay, and Naruto just kind of holds them together like glue."

"She's a smart girl, and even stronger than she thinks. She stood up to that Kiba kid again today and I swear if I hadn't interrupted she would have knocked him senseless."

Genma let out a laugh as they made their way to the teachers lounge, "She can hold her own in a fight trust me." He pushed the door open, "So how's your second day teaching going for you?"

"It's been interesting. One kid ate a page of his notebook in my eighth period class, and Sakura and Kiba fight in my third period class. As for sixth period, they just kind of sit there like I'm not human. Is it the scar?" he asked running his fingers over his left eye, "I didn't think it was that bad."

"It's not the scar, dude. They get bored late in the day and usually just sit around like that, so don't freak out." He laughed sitting at a table, his lunch already opened. "Just keep teaching, they'll come around for you."

"Good to know. Now what was that about dinner?"

"Oh, yeah. Shizune wants to know if you'll come over for dinner this week she doesn't care when but she wants to catch up and shit." He said, shoveling flavored rice into his mouth.

Kakashi picked at his salad, "Is Sakura alright with me coming over, she lives there too."

"She's fine with it; she's usually upstairs locked in her room anyway. She's pretty solitary at home and she eats quickly. So, she could care less really."

"I guess I can come over when ever then. I have no plans."

"How's Friday night sound?"

"Great."

* * *

><p>Sakura stood nervously at the stop of the steps outside the school, talking to Sasuke and Naruto.<p>

"So he's coming over to dinner Friday apparently, according to Genma at least. It'll be really awkward…"

"You think?" Naruto asked, flabbergasted. "No wonder your grades are so high, its through osmosis."

"Mmm, I'm probably going to eat in my room if anything." Sakura felt her heart flutter as Kiba walked through the double doors, headed for them. Come on Mr. Hatake…. She pleaded silently.

"Hey, Homo!" Kiba yelled out to Sasuke, "You and me, right here right now!"

Sakura whimpered as Sasuke turned around to face Kiba, "Excuse me?" He jeered.

"You heard me." He swung and managed to land a hit to Sasuke's jowl. He dropped only for a moment before getting back up again, swinging for Kiba's abdomen.

"Stop it!" Sakura yelled, trying to get in-between the boys. She fell as Kiba swung his fists again for Sasuke, hitting Sakura's jaw instead.

Sakura held her cheek before getting back to her feet, tears in her eyes. "I told you, asshole." She grinds out between clenched teeth, "To leave him alone." She clenched her fist at her side before moving, her fist smashing Kiba in the nose.

"Asshole!" She yelled before looking to Sasuke sympathetically. "Come on." She took his hand and led him down the steps and towards her house.

* * *

><p><em>Disappointment plagues my mind in the thoughts that I had to swing back when my defender blatantly told me that he wouldn't let anything like today's events happen. Some hero he is…<em>

_It is with solemn despair that I say Mister Hatake is no hero, and because of the barefaced lie he told, ice now rests against my skin and that of a close friend to whom the first swing was meant._

_It seems the world is filled with only villains, and added to that list is the name of Kakashi Hatake. A would be hero damned by my own mind…._

"Are you still writing, Sakura?" Sasuke asked as he clicked through channels on her flat screen TV. He rolled over and looked at her, the area around his left his eye slowly turning a dark green-purple.

"Hmm? Nah, I just finished today's entry." She sighed and continued typing the writing program. "Want to watch a movie?"

She shrugged and rolled back over on his stomach, "Eh, what'd you have in mind?"

"Yeah, movie doesn't sound so good…" She sighed and laid back against her pillows, "We could always go raid Shizune's chocolate stash and play violent video games for a while."

He smiled, "Sounds fun…" He sat up and rubbed at his eye, "That guy punches like a sissy."

Sakura laughed, "Oh yeah. You go get the chocolate; I'll set up the game…" She told him with a smile as she hopped from her bed and turned on her game console. "Noob Sai-bot is going to kick Reptile's ass this time."

Sakura laughed as he moved for her door, "Reptile is going to keep his record going, Sakura-chan, Prepare for fatality once again!" He yelled to her with a laugh as he went to Shizune's storage closet to get the candy.

Sakura started the game and elected the characters as Sasuke came back into the room, completely forgetting about her writings for the day. Her computer lying open with the cursor blinking after her last question:

_So now with impending realization, I have come to comprehend that there are no heroes, still I can't help but ask, will I ever find my super-human?_

**~xxx~**


	2. Chapter 2

**A Different Kind of Hero**

**~xxx~**

Chapter 2

**~xxx~**

Sakura sat in silence, barely listening to Kakashi's words as he addressed the differences between substances and mixtures when branched from matter. Her pen swirled lightly on the paper of her notebook; a cluster of spirals covered the white lined page of her notes.

She didn't like holding grudges against people she was sure weren't all bad, but he'd let her down and it had struck a nerve that didn't want to be repaired. Her mind didn't want to forgive him, but her heart did and tried to tell her busy thoughts that he wasn't all bad and that perhaps his reason for not showing up was an infallible one.

"Sakura, are you with us?" Kakashi asked coolly for the third time in a row. She had completely zoned out of the conversation the class was having, doodling in her notebook. She'd done it yesterday as well, almost like she was trying to ignore him. He sighed.

She picked her head up, her cheeks going red, "Uh, yeah, sorry."

"It's fine. Can you name a substance?"

Shit, she thought, Should've paid more attention. "Um, Water?"

"Just water?"

"Yeah?" Her voice cracked as she slunk farther down in her chair, embarrassed to have been caught off guard.

He smiled at her, "Sort of right, you could say. Just water isn't considered a substance, but pure water is. What do I mean by that?"

"That it's not contaminated by anything, right? With no minerals, salt or pollution, just water?" Sasuke asked, his pencil still moving across his paper as he finished copying the notes on the board.

"Yes, that's right. A substance, summed up, is something that is always made of the same things, not matter where you get it, thus _pure_ water." He grinned from ear to ear as he sat on the edge of his desk, glancing at his watch. "We made good time today, guys. You can pack it up."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and looked to Sakura who was again occupied with drawing swirls in her notebook. "Where's Kiba?"

Naruto laughed, "He stayed home yesterday and today; his mom called Coach and said he couldn't play tonight's game. You must have really done a number on him Sakura-chan." He patted her on the back jokingly. "So who won the other night?"

Sakura grinned fakely, "I've been working on my fatalities, and Noob Sai-bot kicked Reptile's ass."

Naruto shook his head, "You got cocky, Sasuke. She always wins in the end."

"Yeah…" She muttered; taking her stuff from the desk as the bell rang. She left without another word to them.

Naruto looked to Sasuke after a moment, dumbstruck, "Is she alright?"

Sasuke shrugged, "Maybe. You know how she is. She wrote for quite awhile in her tech-journal the other night. And what she doesn't tell us goes in there."

"So there is something wrong?" Naruto tried to make the connection.

"I said maybe, she writes about her day as well so maybe she had a good day?"

"Or a violent one."

"Mm…" He hummed in response, "I just wish she'd let us in on what's going on in that head of hers. I hate it when she goes all recluse on us."

"I do too." Naruto hugged his books tight to his chest, "It's not good for her."

* * *

><p>"Come on ladies! Let's move those feet!" Anko yelled as she watched her fifth period gym class race down the sports field passing and dribbling soccer balls.<p>

Sakura was panting, fatigued and pissed. She knew that her gym partner, Hinata, had noticed the bad mood when she'd passed the ball a little too forcefully, and been a little to aggressive playing 'dummy-defense' but she hadn't said anything, and Sakura thanked her for that.

She was letting herself get so worked up over nothing. It wasn't like her. Things didn't bother her, but just thinking of the fact that Mr. Hatake had said he wouldn't let the fight happen made her angry, even more so than before. And that's all she could think about. He'd lied, and she and Sasuke had paid, even though Kiba had gotten his too.

She looked down and kicked the ball across the field with the inside of her foot, sending it rolling to Hinata as she sprinted forward.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh sardonically when Anko blew her whistle signaling class was over. She liked the challenge soccer was to her; it gave her something to focus on other than the betrayal she felt towards a teacher she'd only just met.

"Good job today, Sakura. You really improved over the summer!" Anko patted her on the back a little too forcefully, pushing the Sakura forward the slightest bit.

"Thanks Miss Mitarashi…"

Sakura scowled when she went back inside; she was in a pissy mood and she didn't know what to do to fix it. She'd even changed her clothes with vehemence; and her mood only went down hill from there when Mr. Hatake greeted her on her way to lunch past his room.

"Oh, hey Sakura can I talk to you?"

She huffed angrily before answering, "I'd like to get to lunch actually. If you don't mind."

He shook his head, "I mind, actually. I wanted to apologize for not helping with the fight when it happened, I was caught up in something important and when I did get out there it was over."

"Your apology isn't going to turn back the time, make me like you, or fix the bruise that Sasuke took to his self esteem." She hissed at him, "So save the sob story and let me go to lunch and eat."

He nodded, disappointed, "I understand." He tilted his head toward the cafeteria, "You can go now."

His heart felt heavy. He didn't like letting people down, and in a way, she'd let her down in a very big way.

She turned on her heal and left him standing in the hall by himself.

"Hey, Hatake. Long time no see!" A deep voice said from behind the silver haired man. Kakashi turned with a smile.

"Asuma! How have you been?" He asked reverently. "Good, I hope?"

"Pretty good; sad we couldn't catch up sooner; but I'm on hall duty Thursday's, so I guess that can make up for lost time, ne?" The burlier man laughed heartily, "So how have you been?"

"Mmm, fairly well I suppose. I've seen Genma, Iruka and Anko already, caught up and stuff. I'm going to dinner at Genma's tomorrow actually, though I don't think his…Sakura Haruno cares for me much."

Asuma's brow rose, "Sakura, not like you? What'd you do to get on her bad side? She's probably the least predisposed kid in this school."

"Mm, I believe I let her down the other day. I didn't have time to speak with her yesterday, but the day before she came to me saying that there was going to be a fight and she didn't want anyone to get hurt."

"The one between Sasuke and Kiba, I heard about it from Ino Yamanaka. She said it was over pretty fast."

Kakashi shrugged, "I feel bad for letting her down though, so I apologized and she doesn't want to talk to me at all. She's acting weird, of course that could just be because of me."

"Nah, Genma noticed it too, and so did Kurenai." Asuma told him as they strolled the length of the hall, "She has those days and she's pretty reserved and likes to sort things out herself. Give her time, she'll forgive you."

"I heard somewhere that she's going to graduate with a perfect one-hundred average?"

"That's the plan if she keeps this year's grades up. Why?"

He scratched his jaw casually, "I was curious."

"Yeah? Well, she's a good student, so don't let her shitty mood throw you off."

"I'll remember that...Do you still smoke?"

"Yeah, but I cut down to three packs a day." He held his hand up, showing his achievement with the same number of fingers.

"That's good. I quit completely about a year ago."

"Good god, how'd you do it?"

He laughed lightly, "Cold-turkey; it was a bitch, but I did it."

"Well, I'm proud." Asuma laughed along with his friend, "Have you seen Ibiki lately?"

"Told you, I haven't seen anyone yet. I've been back and forth from here and home trying to still unpack, and I've been trying to get all my paperwork straight." He rubbed that back of his head sheepishly. "How's the sadist doing?"

* * *

><p>"Alright, you were assigned pages three-twenty-four through three-thirty-nine to read and comprehend and then you were to answer questions one-through-fifty." Ibiki stood at the front of his math class writing the due assignment on the white board. "Pass them forward. You've had two days to do it, and it should be done, and done right."<p>

Sakura shrugged when Shikamaru turned back in his chair to take her paper and gave her a skeptical look, she handed hers forward and sighed when every set of eyes in the room focused on her and her completed homework.

'Nerd'-'Geek'-'Freak'; she tried to ignore the whispered insults as Mr. Morino started in with the next lesson in their text books.

She sighed and started doodling over her notebook cover, still trying to ignore the grievances people had against her. She didn't even flinch when a wadded up ball of paper hit the back of her head and landed by her feet.

She just sat there and continued doodling. She moved slowly when the bell rang and she made her way slowly to her study hall and after that her locker, the end of the day a warmly welcomed thing. She could go home and write, listen to blaring music, and not have to deal with the human race for a few hours.

"Hey Sakura." Hinata greeted her as she walked through the double doors.

"Hey." Sakura said with a weak smile, "Good job in gym."

"Th-thanks. You too, you were really good t-today." She smiled at her taller friend, "What are you doing t-tonight?"

"Going home and sleeping," She laughed lightly, "You?"

Her eyes sparkled with joy, "Going out with Naruto, h-he's t-taking m-me to dinner."

"Sounds fun." Sakura liked Hinata. She was good for Naruto, and it made her smile thinking about how worked up the girl got when they talked about him, her barely noticeable stutter becoming for defined with excitement.

"Mmm…" Hinata hummed as they met the boys at the top of the steps, "Hey." She smiled at her boyfriend before kissing him long and hard on the lips.

Sakura exchanged glances with Sasuke before waving her goodbyes to her friends and heading home, her mind racing.

She slammed the front door of her house as she entered and stomped her way upstairs, completely ignoring Shizune's look of question. She just wanted to be alone and her nosy sister didn't understand that.

She pulled her laptop from its drawer after kicking her sneakers off and dropping her bag by her locked door. She turned it on, turned on her music and opened her writing program her fingers typing her emotions furiously fast.

…_The nerve of him! Apologizing after that? Does he really think that will help? A close friend now bears the scars of that utterly useless battle, both inside and out and I?I bear the vigor of a serpent ready to strike down its prey._

_Perhaps I am too quick to judge the man; his past deems him shadows of dark whilst his personality screams of a radiant jubilance. Still yet, he lied to me, concerning a very serious matter of that which could have taken a turn for the very worse had someone thought to pull a weapon._

_I am struggling again in that stupor which drags me down and I feel as if I'm drowning in my own emotion because of it. The darkened dungeons of my melancholy thoughts have once again opened their doors to me and I am only more than obliged to enter through them…_

Sakura looked up from the screen as Shizune called her name from downstairs, no doubt wanting to talk about her mood. She was more than positive that Genma had noticed during History, and she was fairly certain her sister had noticed when she'd stomped up the stairs and locked herself in her room without a word.

She hated explaining herself. She was eighteen; she should be allowed to pout. "Coming!" She yelled as she exited out of the program. She crawled off of her bed and slowly went down stairs to meet Genma and Shizune in the kitchen.

"You're home early," She noted as her gaze flickered to Genma's.

"I'm home at my usual time, pinky. You've been upstairs so I hear."

She shrugged, "So?"

Shizune looked at her pleadingly, "Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm just tired." She sighed, sitting up on a stool at the island. "Is that all you wanted?"

Shizune nodded, "Yeah. Oh, and don't forget, Kakashi is coming over for dinner tomorrow, alright?"

"Whatever…" She muttered as she headed back upstairs. "I could care less."

Shizune only shook her head and looked to Genma sadly, "Why won't she talk to us? It's not like were going to rip her a new ass if she's having problems."

"You know her, baby. She likes to keep to herself."

"I just wish she wouldn't."

Genma looked to the empty doorway, "I know…"

* * *

><p>Sakura looked up occasionally as Kakashi spoke about defining an element. He rambled on more to himself, she laughed silently, than he did to the class. It was almost like he was nervous teaching them. His eyes would move from them to the ceiling and then to the back of the room and to them again.<p>

She scrawled the notes down quickly as he changed pages and she went back to doodling and occasionally staring out the window aimlessly. She sighed and looked back to the board where Kakashi had scribbled the formulas for water, glucose and salt.

"These are made up of elements, what are they called?"

Sakura just stared at the letters and numbers and looked to Sasuke as he answered the question with a simple, "Compounds"

"Very good." He smiled, and turned to the board, scrawling the word compounds in big sloppy letters. "Elements make compounds. Thus completes our substances part of the diagram. There will be a test on this Monday, so I suggest studying and doing that sheet I gave you at the beginning of class." He told the class as they packed up and got ready for their next class. "If you have any problems I suggest you come in and talk to me during my free periods or even during a class. That's all for today."

Sakura closed her notebook unhurriedly and turned to smile at her friends, "So, this test should be pretty easy."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah. I like chemistry."

Sasuke swatted at Naruto's shoulder, "Don't be saying that in front of the teacher, dobe, he could make our lives a living hell if he wanted to."

"He seems pretty nice to me." Naruto scratched the back of his head before lacing his fingers at the base of his neck. "I don't think the guy could be mean if he wanted to be. He's so…happy."

"Mm…" Sasuke hummed in agreement. "You don't seem to like him very much Sakura, what do you have against him?"

"I don't have anything against him. I'm just tired." She looked up at the clock pleadingly, the minutes seeming to slow down with the topic of the current conversation. Why did everyone feel like prying? So she was in a bad mood, didn't everyone have them?

She huffed in relief when the bell finally rang and she headed to Health class with Asuma. She had to laugh at him, he knew how to lighten the mood with the most awkward of situations and she thought it ironic that he was the health teacher and he smoked constantly.

She smiled weakly at him as she sat down next to Ino.

"Good Morning Health class, how are we doing today?" He joked as he sat on his desk in the front of the room. "I thought it would be nice if we talked about something that interests you guys for a change, any ideas?"

A few of the kids muttered their ideas to themselves while others rolled their eyes. Gaara raised his hand.

"Yes, Gaara?"

"We could talk about the reproductive system…again."

Asuma shook his head, "Why is that topic so interesting?"

Ino laughed, "We could talk about sex instead. It's Health related."

Sakura smiled at Ino and glanced at Young Sarutobi, as they referred to him so as not to mix him up with his father, the principal. It was funny how that one little word perked everyone in the class up. "Are you giving out free condoms again?" She asked amused.

"Depends on the discussion. What about sex do you want to talk about, STD's, teen pregnancy…the reproductive systems?"

"Protection?" Choji Akamichi suggested.

"Condom promotions?" Another suggested.

Asuma shook his head with a booming laugh, "Make sure to wrap it, before you tap it boys and girls."

The entire class let out a riotous giggle.

"Children in the backs seat cause accidents, accidents in the back seat cause children."

Sakura shook her head and opened her notebook, "This day just gets better and better…." She muttered to herself as she started scribbling.

When the bell rang, the class moved in a rush for the door to go to lunch and Sakura's notebook sit lying open on the desk forgotten in the interesting conversation held in her Health class.

Asuma walked through the aisles picking up the trash left by his class, his brow furrowed as he came to the desk shared by Ino and Sakura. He turned the notebook around so he could clearly see the picture that had been drawn in it. He picked it up and left his room.

"Hey Kakashi!" He called down the hall, catching a glimpse of his friend as he turned the corner going to the lounge for his lunch.

Kakashi turned around to face Asuma, "Hey. What's up?"

"I wanted you to see this…Sakura left it on her desk in my class by accident. I don't usually pay attention to what they write in the notebooks but…I think you need to see this." He held out the spiral pad of paper for his associate to see.

Kakashi's brow rose, "That's Sakura's?"

"Yeah."

"You should probably show Genma that…" He said slowly as he looked over the black and white picture drawn in pen.

Asuma shook his head, "They would worry."

"They should if she'd drawing things like this." He referenced to the notebook in his hand. "She's obviously having issues."

"You show them then. Or why don't you talk to her?"

Kakashi shifted uncomfortably, "She doesn't like me." He played with the strap of his bag on his shoulder, "And I don't want to be in the middle of that…Why did you show me?"

"You know exactly why."

Kakashi's eyes left his friends and shot for the floor, "It's not like I can just magically fix her problems..."

"Here's your chance to redeem yourself." He said putting his hand on his friends shoulder.

"She won't hear of it." He shook his head.

"Well someone better before it gets worse."

"If you were smart you'd put the book back before she realizes it's missing."

Asuma shook his head, "I thought you'd do something to help her."

Kakashi hung his head to his chest as his friend walked away and back to his room. His heart heavier than before, had he caused her to draw that picture of the girl dying? He wasn't sure if he would be able to not intervene if he had been the reason for her despair. She obviously needed someone who would understand what she was going through, but that was the problem, he didn't know.

Her home life sounded pretty decent and she had real friends that cared about her more than anything. It was in his opinion the happiest an angst ridden teen could be.

Sakura rummaged through her bag ninth period as she looked for her doodling notebook. It was no where to be found. "Shit…" She muttered before walking up to her study hall teacher. "Miss Yuuhi can I go get my notebook? I left it in Mr. Sarutobi's classroom."

Kurenai looked up from her test papers, "Yes. Just sign out."

Sakura wrote her name on the sheet and left the room. She slowly walked down the hall, hoping and praying that he hadn't seen the picture she'd drawn over her notes. She was feeling down. Even more so than usual, and she knew that it had more to do with her emotional state rather than Kakashi's broken promise. She just didn't know what to do with it, with her emotions but write them out or draw them in angsty pictures.

She knocked on Asuma's door before entering the room and smiled fakely at him. "I left my notebook."

He nodded to her desk, where it sat, "Still there."

She grabbed it quickly and left with a curt nod; in too much of a hurry to notice that it was opposite her chair. She closed it as she walked down the hall and signed back into study hall. She didn't need anyone reading it; it would only get her in trouble.

She sighed with relief when the bell rang shortly after and she left. She stopped at the top of the steps to wait for Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata. They met her a few moments later outside.

"Hey Sakura-chan. Are you coming to our game tomorrow?" Sasuke asked casually, adjusted his bag on his shoulders. "We're going against Kusa, and we're going to kick ass."

Sakura shrugged, "I might. Is it home?"

"Nah, that's next week's game against Suna and we'll win then too." The young Uchiha said with a wide grin plastered across his face.

"Don't let Gaara here you say that, he's still pretty dedicated to the Sand."

Naruto snorted, "Leaf freaking rocks. Our soccer team will be undefeated this year."

Sakura smiled, "Let's hope same goes for the football team. Don't want to be beat on our home turf."

"Hells yes we'll be national champions this year, you watch." Naruto nodded. "Oh, and have fun with dinner tonight!" He yelled down the steps as Sakura started for her home.

"Bite me!" She yelled back with a slight grin.

She walked through the front door and went into the kitchen after dropping her bag on the stairs. "Hey sis."

"Hey. We're having miso soup with my famous teriyaki."

"Sounds good. I can't wait." She said as she opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle.

Shizune looked at her as she opened the bottle, "You will be joining us, right?"

Sakura scowled, "Do I have to?"

"It would be nice."

"Fine." She uttered, "I'm going online for a bit, then I'm hopping in the shower before dinner. Okay?"

"That's fine. Six-thirty, we eat." Shizune told her sister as she started getting her pan out for the meal.

Sakura started upstairs and kicked her shoes off as entered her room. She went to her bed and grabbed her computer before curling up on her pillows.

_The ocean of turmoil I feel seems to be getting progressively worse, I'm still able to function like a human, but I wonder if my thoughts are what will be my downfall. I don't feel happy, or cheery but merely down and confused and hurt._

_I asked only days ago the pain that lie behind the charcoal eyes of a hero-gone-villain, but now my thoughts are that of do people see the pain behind mine own eyes? I certainly hope not, for I fear the fussing that would pursue the conformation of my internal struggles. _

_Why do I even bother to hide what is so predominately clear? Of course they've noticed a change in my moods, my false happiness, how long will this charade of mine last until the dreary dark is lightened in my mind? How long must I struggle with these raging feelings? They say that the morning after the storm is always the brightest, so I hope that in time, my storm will fade away leaving only brightest of lights._

_Until then, my only light seems to be the support of friends, yet I don't believe they truly comprehend my struggle with these emotions. Sometimes knowing that they're there for me is enough to be my candle in the dark and guide me to another day…_

Sakura looked to her clock and turned her computer off. After grabbing a change of clothes she made her way to the bathroom to take her shower. She turned the water on and let the steam gather before stripping down and stepping in.

She let the water run down her back and through her hair, almost as if it would wash away the pain she felt inside. She shuddered and began to soap her body, scrubbing roughly with a washcloth.

After washing her hair, Sakura climbed out, shut the water off and dried off with a fluffy white towel. She pulled her change of clothes on (a tank, hoodie, and a pair of jeans) and began brushing her hair out.

She didn't feel like drying it, so she merely combed it into a ponytail and left the bathroom and leisurely made her way down the stairs. A light knock on the door.

She sighed and opened it. Kakashi stood outside, wearing nothing but a pair of loose fitting jeans, a tight grey t-shirt and black vest. He had a great sense of fashion. Sakura would give him that much.

"Um…come in, I guess." She muttered to him as she stepped back from the door. He walked and smiled at her.

"Genma told me to come by around six."

"He won't be home for another half hour then, its quarter of. Shizune should be in the kitchen though, come on…" She lead him into the kitchen her sister no where to be found. "Shizune?" She called out.

Kakashi looked around the kitchen coolly, admiring the granite counter tops and molding along the ceilings. The dark green color was calming and he couldn't help but smile. He liked earth tones.

Sakura picked a note up from off the table and read it to herself silently.

_**Sakura,**_

_**Ran to the store to get chicken, I forgot to pick some up earlier. I'll be back soon. If Kakashi gets there before I get back, try to be nice.**_

_**-Shizune**_

"Um looks like she went out for something. She'll be home soon." She turned around awkwardly, "Um…"

Kakashi laughed, "So did you do your homework?"

She shook her head, "Nope. Waiting till the last minute.'

"Ah." He commented before asking a question that had been plaguing him for a few while "Are you mad at me?"

She cocked an eyebrow, "What gave you that impression?"

"Well, you did yell at me yesterday and say you didn't like me." He rubbed the back of his head nervously as he shifted from one foot to the other nervously. He hated awkward situations and this was one of them, did he bring up the notebook thing, did he leave it be? These were the thoughts crossing his mind.

She rolled her eyes, "Sasuke got beat up, I got hit in the face and Kiba got his nose broken. You lied, you said it wouldn't happen, so I'm going to be a little pissed don't you think?" She crossed her arms over her chest as she sat on one of the stools at the island.

"I apologize for not being able to help. I mean it genuinely when I say that I tried to get out there."

"I went to you because I thought you'd actually help us out. You're just like the others though…"

"That's not true, Sakura. Believe me when I say that I meant what I said, even though my actions don't speak so clearly of that." He sighed and leaned his hip against the island, "I really want to help."

She looked up confused, "Help with what?"

"Something is bothering you; please tell me you aren't drawing pictures of dying people because I couldn't break up the fight in time."

Her face paled and her stomach seemed to drop with the look he gave her, almost like he could see what was going on in her head, "You know about that?"

"So does Asuma."

"You didn't tell Genma…did you?" She swallowed hard and prayed the answer was no.

"No."

Her chin rested against her chest, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Was it me though?"

"No, not really."

"Not really?"

She picked her head up, "I don't want to talk about it." She looked to the doorway as Shizune came inside taking her jacket off, her bag of groceries switching hands.

The older woman looked into the kitchen. "Kakashi! Ah, long time no see!" She smiled brightly, "Sakura was nice to you?"

He smiled back at Shizune, "She was a lovely host." He looked to her seriously, "We were just talking about chemistry class and how much she likes it."

Shizune smiled to Sakura, "Oh well that's great that she likes it." Shizune put the groceries on the counter next to the stove. "Genma will be home soon."

"I'm going to go upstairs." Sakura told them as she hopped from her stool and headed from the doorway. She turned, "Just call me down when he gets here."

"Alright." Shizune said as she turned on the stove and began cooking.

Sakura shuddered, the look Kakashi gave spoke the words he didn't say _'we will finish this conversation'. _Just the thought of being alone with him again made her nervous. What was it about him that made her feel like that?

She went into her room and sat down in front of her mirror, playing with her BC glasses. She felt almost naked around him, despite her extra layers of clothing. It wasn't even that she felt alien in her own skin, but that she felt like he saw through her despite their limited contact.

"Fuck…" She muttered as she laid her head on her desk, the cool wood pressed against her cheek. She started humming as she waited to be called down stairs, her songs changing but all with the same message. She needed someone, anyone to pull her from the darkness she'd fallen into and be her guiding light brighter than the small candle she carried.

She got to her feet when she heard the door open, and made her way down the stairs as Genma took his coat off and hung it on the rack by the front door. "Hey." She said weakly.

Genma looked up with a smile, "Hello, Gorgeous." He reached out and ruffled her hair, "Is Kakashi here?"

"Yeah…He's in the kitchen with Shizune." She watched as he started for the kitchen, "When are you literally moving in here?"

"As soon as my lease runs out, and that's only a couple weeks. Does it matter though; I spend ninety-nine percent of my time here."

She shrugged, "I was just wondering, I knew it was soon but I didn't know when." She tugged at the strings on her hoodie as she followed Genma into the kitchen where Kakashi and Shizune sat seemingly deep in conversation.

"Hey, Baby." Genma cheered as he put his hands on the older woman's shoulders and kissed her cheek. "Hello Kakashi."

Shizune smiled up at her lover, and Kakashi merely nodded to his friend acknowledging the greeting. Kakashi's gaze slipped from the couple in front of him to Sakura, who stood brooding in the doorway with her head hung and her hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt.

Genma looked to Sakura after pouring himself a tall glass of milk, "Why don't you go turn on the TV in the livingroom or something, from the looks dinner will be a little late tonight."

Sakura rolled her eyes and looked to Kakashi, "Do you want to watch TV?"

He shrugged and she sighed.

"Just call me down when dinner is done."

"Why don't you show Kakashi some of your writing? If memory serves he was quite an avid reader in high school." The older woman suggested with a smile. "Granted it wasn't exactly school appropriate but he still used to read a lot.

Sakura felt her face go red, "I…" She stopped mid-sentence and looked to Kakashi. "Let's turn on the TV." She left the kitchen with a sigh and went into the livingroom and turned on the TV manually before sitting in one of the easy chairs, Kakashi following shortly after.

She flipped through channels with the remote, occasionally glancing to Kakashi, who sat on the couch with his ankle resting atop his knee, his arms spread over the backrest. There wasn't anything good on, she thought to herself. She tossed the control to Kakashi, "Watch what you want." She stood and quickly made her way up the stairs to grab her computer and her headphones.

Kakashi watched as she stomped her way up the stairs before paying any mind to the screen hanging on the wall in front of him. There was absolutely nothing on, he mulled silently before settling with the science channel on a show about the reproductive organs of mammals. That was Asuma's territory, he thought with a smile, what that man saw that, he didn't understand.

That made him think about the last time he'd had sex, seeing as how his thoughts had slipped to the subject of reproduction. He hated that he couldn't recall the last time, and wondered if it had been one of those 'unforgettable nights' in a bar. While he doubted it, it definitely made him think on the matter. Maybe that's what he needed to get his new-old life in Konoha started again, was to get laid. Anko was single again, he thought humorously, wondering what Ibiki would do if he found out that he was thinking her in such a way. The man would surly hang him above his fireplace by his balls.

He needed to stop reading those damned books in his free time; they were starting to affect his head in a gutter-like way.

Sakura went back downstairs and sat back in her chair, computer in her lap with her headphones in, music blaring loudly as she wrote:

_One day I realize, the small flickering light of a small candle won't be enough to find my way through the darkness and while I should approach the subject much sooner than intended I leave it to lie until that day comes when the darkness becomes so indefatigably overwhelming that I become lost in it's depths without the light of that hero soul to guide me from the bottomless culvert of the shadows of my thoughts and actions. _

_Superheroes don't exist, and if they do, I've never met one to reveal his identity. Yet the man sitting to my left once held the possibility of hero-champion, he's the closest I've come, but I now sulk in the falseness in which he led me on. I ramble insistently of the mishap between us, the sting of the wound still healing over slowly, too slowly perhaps for my own liking._

_What is wrong with me? Why am I, usually happy and carefree, now dreary and sulking inside with a false exterior worn to hide the pain I feel from the torment I'm suffering…_

When Shizune called for dinner, Sakura closed from her writings and sat across from Kakashi at the small table as they began to eat.

She moved her fork around her plate, after taking a few bites and just stared at the food in front of her. She wasn't in the mood for food or the pointless dinner conversation that they made; talking of the past, future, where their careers had taken them and other nonsense she could've cared less about. She didn't perk up until Kakashi began speaking of his high school experiences.

"Remember when Tsunade first caught me with the Icha Icha novels?" He asked his friends with a laugh, "She nearly took them away and told me such smut was not allowed in her classroom."

Genma let out a howl of laughter, "I remember that. Obito took them after that and read them out loud in class; we got a formal detention for it." He shook his head with a smile, "Good times, good times."

"It was after that when Obito died…" kakashi's smile dimmed.

Who was Obito? Sakura thought as she became more intent on the conversation.

"Rin had always told me that I pulled him through everything and the reason he hadn't told me what was going on was because he didn't want to worry me…It's hard to believe looking back now that he did what he did. He always seemed so happy and upbeat, but no one really knew he was struggling so much with everything."

Sakura cleared her throat, "What happened?"

Three sets of eyes; Brown, Black and Charcoal; looked to her. Kakashi's face seemed to dim even more so, "He killed himself." He poked at the food on his plate, "People bullied him, and truth be told I was guilty of that for the longest time, until freshmen year and we got two-weeks of formal detention for fighting in the hallway. After that we were nearly inseparable, he became my best friend."

Sakura's heart dropped and her stomach seemed to flip as her eyes left Kakashi's momentarily. "Oh…"

"That's why I was so proud when you stood up for Sasuke the other day. It really hit home for me, because I knew what it was like to be bullied and be the bully, and I know how hard it was for you to do that not only for yourself but for your friends as well." Kakashi sighed, "Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, and I wish I was more like you when I was younger."

"You stopped bullying him though, that's something." Sakura told him quietly.

Kakashi smiled weakly at her, "Yeah, I guess it is."

Sakura couldn't help but smile as her impression of Kakashi seemed to jump up again, the slightest bit. She knew he understood now, her faith in him once again developing but still skeptically outweighed.

**~xxx~**


	3. Chapter 3

**A Different Kind of Hero**

**~xxx~**

Chapter 3

**~xxx~**

"Alrighty then," Genma drawled as he slowly wrote out the words to the Konoha National Anthem on the board. "Who wants to read it?"

Kids in the class turned in their seats looking around, silently going through the picking order. The older kids glared at the younger ones, who glared to the smarter ones who glared to the not so smart ones.

Genma shook his head. "Sakura?"

She shrugged, "Sure."

She looked to the board again and cleared her throat;

"To the leaf we are faithful; to the place we call home, this alma mater is the light that is shone, to the love of its people and the growth of its ground, we gather round now, all hand in hand, to the village we're bound, to its colors we're faithful and the people are true, raise the flag with our colors of green, white and blue." She sighed and rested her chin in her hand, her elbow sitting atop her desk.

"Very good. Any one else think that that's a cheesy song?"

Every hand in the class room went up.

He smiled, "I have taught you all well. Now pack your stuff up." He said as the bell rang.

Sakura grabbed her books and started for Chemistry and walked into the class room silently as she watched Mr. Hatake poured sugar into a beaker. He smiled and nodded to her and bent down to his desk cabinets and pulled up a clear glass bottle labeled Sulfuric Acid.

"Wow, what's today's lesson on?"

He looked up and smiled, "We're still on Elements, but I'm showing you how you can separate them chemically."

"Wont the acids just eat at the sugar?" She asked coyly.

He shook his head with that crooked grin still on his face, "Not quite, but I think you'll like it."

She nodded and looked to the doorway as the other kids started filing into the room, taking their seats.

Kakashi waited until everyone was sitting before going to the door and closing it, "I thought I'd show you something cool today."

"Ice?" one kid snickered.

Kakashi shook his head, "No." He pulled the goggles resting on his forehead over his glasses. "I'm going to show you how to chemically separate the compound sugar. What is sugar made of?" He asked the class as he pulled the cork top from the clear bottle.

They stayed silent. Kakashi sighed, "Carbon and water, now watch this." He poured a small amount of acid over the sugar and took a step back as the new mixture started changing colors.

Sakura smiled as the sugar turned nearly black and started rising from the beaker slowly before letting out a hiss of steam.

"Whoa!"-"Wow!"-"It looks like a piece of shi_"

"Hey, hey, hey, let's not say what it looks like alright?" Kakashi rushed the words out, "Let's just think it to ourselves."

Gaara turned his head looking at the black thing in the beaker, "I don't get it? What's it supposed to remind us of?"

Naruto smile and turned to the boy sitting next to him, "It looks like a piece of sh_" Sasuke's hand went over his mouth.

"You don't want a formal detention do you, dobe?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Then keep your mouth shut."

Sakura shook her head as the boys bickered. She looked up to the board as Kakashi loaded their notes and her eyes met his temporarily. She looked down at her notebook not wanting to face those charcoal depths yet. She'd gone and made him curious in a conversation she hadn't wanted to take part in, and now he wanted to finish it, she knew. He felt guilty, she'd come to conclude, and he thought he was the reason for her drawing that picture in her health notebook. It wasn't that he was the reason, just merely the trigger. She saw the difference, but would he?

Kakashi smiled. "Thank you Sasuke." He looked over the students; Kiba was back in school, a bandage wrapped over his nose and a scowl painted to his face. "Pass up your homework and get ready for the test."

The class whined as they passed their papers forward, Kakashi took them and waited until everyone had a pencil out and everything off of their desks before passing back the blank quiz.

Sakura looked down at the words and froze. She didn't know how to do any of this, when had he taught them this? How the hell did you find the charge of an atom? She decided then and there that she hated short answer questions. What the fuck was this, it was like it was written in a different language.

She sighed and wrote down her best guess and moved on to the next question: _The number of protons in an atom is equal to what?_

He must have purposely given her the harder paper because of the school's high expectation of her. That had to be it, because she had no idea what half of the stuff written on the paper meant.

"Protons…" She whispered to herself… Wasn't that the atomic mass? Or was it the atomic number? Shit. She was so screwed. She scribbled her guess down quickly before moving to the next question: _How do you find the number of electrons in an atom?_

Good-bye perfect grades, she thought, Sasuke was right. There is something that can catch me off guard, and its chemistry, Sakura sighed and wrote a random answer in the blank. More random answers and guesses followed until she was finished with the entire quiz.

She was going to see her first zero. The thought hit her like a ton of bricks and she couldn't help but shake her head in defeat. Maybe she should have paid attention she thought, maybe then she wouldn't have done so badly on the test.

She moved slowly when the bell rang and she couldn't seem to focus during gym. She let seven balls into the net when she played goalie, and she'd ended up scoring for the opposite team thrice. She felt fatigued when they went inside to change back into their clothes and she nearly broke out in tears when Kakashi stopped her outside of his room on her way to lunch.

She looked up when he called her name, her eyes almost watering. "Yeah?"

He held up a paper as he looked down at her, "Did you not understand the test earlier?"

She shook her head, "I didn't know anything…" Her voice cracked, "I don't know what happened I just drew a blank. How bad did I do?"

He turned the sheet in his hands and held it out to her. She felt sick to her stomach as she looked at the single digit number in red at the top of the quiz.

"You can stay after for me if you want help and want to retake it, if you didn't understand the material you should have said something. Despite your slight grudge against me."

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek, "Um…Can I stay tonight?"

"Of course." He sighed, "I'll let you redo the practice sheet as well."

Her face went red. "I didn't even look at it…"

"That's alright. It was harder than the test so…"

She hung her head, embarrassed. "There goes my perfect average."

He looked at her for a moment, "Who gave you that standard to keep up?"

Her brow furrowed in confusion, "Huh?"

"Who said you had to graduate with a perfect one-hundred?" He asked her.

"Everybody… When I passed sixth grade with a one-hundred average, every one just kind of pushed me up to the plate of being the first person in this school to do that." She rubbed her arm nervously, "I don't like letting people down."

He nodded in understanding. "Sometimes you need to put yourself first, Sakura, instead of your grades and those around you. That kind of stress can drive a person crazy, believe me."

She scoffed to herself and muttered, "Don't worry, I know."

She knew all too well what it could do to a person. She was falling apart inside thanks to the building stress. Or at least that's what she liked to think was pulling her apart.

"Go on and eat your lunch," He said with a smile.

She nodded and left without another word.

He shook his head and looked back at the paper in his hand. She was going to pass his class, he decided, by what ever means possible.

* * *

><p>Sakura looked up shocked when she stopped in front of her house to find Kakashi and Shizune sitting on the front steps laughing over something. He hadn't told had he?<p>

Her heart began to pound fretfully as she approached them slowly. "Hey." She called to them.

They looked up, "Hey." Shizune smiled.

Sakura's viridian eyes met Kakashi's darker ones, "Hi, Mr. Hatake."

"Hello, Sakura." He gave her that crooked smile that had made her heart melt the first day of school.

"What are you doing here?" She asked smoothly, shifting her bag from one shoulder to the other.

He shrugged, "I was on my way home and my jeep broke down up the road."

"I saw him when I was driving home so I figured he shouldn't suffer in the cold while he waits for his insurance agent." Shizune told Sakura happily, "It gives us more time to catch up as well! So how'd you do on that quiz today?"

Sakura looked to Kakashi again as he turned his head to Shizune, "She did really well." He informed her, lying through his teeth.

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest as he said those words; it felt like her heart was going to pound out of her chest with uneasiness. She'd never known any of Shizune's close friends to out-right lie to her, and Sakura had certainly never met any one to actually lie to her older sister with Sakura's well being in mind. It was a good first for her, and it made her almost want to smile that he'd lied for _her._

Perhaps that was his way of making it up to her? She smiled as her older sister and her chemistry teacher stood up, "So what's for dinner?"

Shizune tapped her chin for a moment mocking thought, "I was thinking we'd go out tonight. I don't feel like cooking, and we haven't had any good fast food in a while." She turned to Kakashi, "If you want you can come with us."

"Is that alright with Sakura-chan?" He smiled down at the pinkette, his dark eyes sparkling with a humor she couldn't place.

Sakura waved her hand in a downward motion, "I don't care. Everyone has to eat sometime. Now can I go inside? It's fucking cold out here."

Shizune glared at her sister at her use of such fowl language and Kakashi only snickered as Sakura rolled her eyes and marched up the steps into the house behind them. "When is Genma going to be home?"

"He had to drive to Mist, and check on the time left on his lease there because his landlord wouldn't pick up the phone, so he'll be home a little later so it's just us tonight, plus Kakashi."

"Okay. Just call me down when it's time to go." She went upstairs and into her room.

She tossed her bag by her door and kicked her shoes off before jumping on her bed and laying on it horizontally. She was so tired and her mind was racing with some of her darker thoughts.

She didn't even feel like writing in her tech-journal tonight. She just felt like lying on her bed like it would fix her problems, but she knew it wouldn't. She rolled over with a quick 'yeah?' as someone knocked her door lightly.

She wasn't really surprised when Kakashi opened it and stood in her doorway. No matter what she did, there wasn't going to be any avoiding him any more.

"Hello?" She asked calmly, as her heart started to race and her insides felt like they were turning to mush. He just had to be so good looking, didn't he, she thought with a slight smile.

He smiled, "I wanted to ask you about making up that test."

"You would want to talk about school outside of it, wouldn't you?"

"Only to piss you off."

"I've noticed; do me favor while you on that little kick and do my math homework for me?" She cooed with false coyness.

He shook his head with a light laugh, "Mm, I don't think so. Math isn't my subject."

She rolled her eyes, "What a pussy, don't be afraid to venture out there, Mr. Hatake. It's okay to come to the dark side, we have internet _and_ porn."

"What did that have to do with out conversation?"

"I don't know. I needed a reason to say the word porn."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to talk about school."

"Ah, touché."

She shook her head, "That was out of context."

"So? I'm not an English major." He smiled at her; simple thoughts of her crossing his mind. He tensed briefly; thoughts about his student shouldn't be as erotic as the images in his head. He couldn't really help it though, he decided. She was intriguingly smart, dangerously good looking and helplessly gorgeous. Her legs were long and her eyes were dark with emotion, the pain he knew she felt and the joy he knew she hid.

She put her hands over her ears, "Ah, stop it! Must you keep bringing it up?"

He laughed with her, "No." He gave that crooked grin a flash before going back to his straight (as she liked to refer to it) teacher face. "Seriously though Sakura, What about your test?"

"I'll make it up tomorrow." She sat up fully and looked to her computer lying at her side. She could write about this, it would make for an interesting log. It wasn't everyday that her uber good looking science teacher stood outside of her bedroom watching her with those lusty charcoal eyes.

Lusty? She thought. She really was loosing it. On the other hand though, his eyes did seem to have that bedroom-droop to them and those ash-grey lashes only added to it. That was the only word to describe them. Just looking at him made her want to melt in her panties, and that voice? It was smooth as honey with just enough of a breathy-rasp to tease the senses; granted she wasn't greatly experienced in the dating field, but she knew what got her going.

And Mr. Hatake made every single requirement.

"Will you make it up during your study hall?" He asked amused as she looked him over for at least the third time -which he knew of- that night.

She shrugged, "I guess. It'd be better than just sitting gin a room with a bunch of screaming kids who think it's funny to throw paper at me. Better yet, could you get me out of math class to do it?"

He cocked his brow, "Throwing paper at you? Your teacher lets that happen?"

"Miss Yuuhi, Mr. Morino, Asuma-san occasionally, um…lets see, and let's not leave out Mr. Maito. When he's not prancing around in that damned ugly leotard of his, he's hunched over his desk not paying attention to anything." She shook her head, "It doesn't matter though, I'm used to it."

Kakashi leaned his weight against the frame of the door and nodded slowly, "So they let the other kids bully you?"

"I don't think its really bullying, they just don't like that I'm so…smart." She tugged her fingers through her hair; a nervous habit she'd recently picked up, and sighed to herself.

"It's bullying Sakura. It's wrong that they do it, and those teachers should be stopping it. There is absolutely no reason for you to put up with it, you know." he crossed his arms over his chest and eyed her. "You know its bullying as well as I do."

"Why do you care so much?" She said with much more conviction than intended.

Kakashi shrugged this time his voice thickly sardonic, "Oh, I don't know. My best friend did kill himself because he was bullied for starters, um, I was bullied through out high-school and I know how fucking bad it hurts to have people call you names and push you around. That shit messes with your head it breaks a person down and makes them into something they don't want to be. You should know that."

Sakura stared back at him in shock. He had no idea how right he was, and she couldn't help the tears that threatened to fall as they welled in her eyes. Her eyes slid to the floor and she stared at his feet for the longest time, regaining her composure.

"Knowing about it and doing something about it are two different things, Mr. Hatake."

He nodded once again, "I know that. Believe me, I know." He huffed out calmly, "Is that why you drew that picture?"

She nodded her head slowly, "Yes. I don't really want to talk about it though."

"That's fine." He moved closer to the bed, and sat next her before tucking his feet under his knees cross-legged. "I fell into a pretty bad state of unconsciousness, as I liked to call it, when I was in high school. I didn't really care about anything any more, and I didn't care about any one. I tried to keep it together, you know, put on the charade that everything was fine, but as soon as I walked through the door in my house, I was a whole other person." His eyes met hers briefly before looking to the ceiling and he sighed.

"I dabbled in self-harm, and eventually isolated myself because I thought what they were saying was true, that I was a freak, no one wanted me around, and I was weird." His face lit a little more and he smiled at her, "And then I thought about Obito one night after harming myself, and how he'd be looking down on me for what I was doing. He'd tell me I was the greatest person he'd ever known, that I was the smart one, and that I was the freaky-weirdness in his life, that being different was the greatest thing because it meant that I wasn't like everyone else." He nudged her with his elbow, "He wouldn't want me to be so down and harsh on myself, he wouldn't want me hurting myself so that the pain I felt inside would go away. He'd want me to be me, the nerdy-science obsessed-smut reading-not give a shit guy that I was before I fell into my depression. So I picked myself up, dusted myself off and finally told someone what was going on."

Sakura thought about Kakashi's words for a long time before picking her head up slightly, eyeing the snap bracelets on his wrists. So that's why he wore them or the bandanna's he'd tie around that same part and the black gloves with finger holes cut just before the second knuckles, she thought with realization. He was hiding the scars of his past, and the mistakes he'd made with his choice in injuring himself.

He watched as her gaze went to his bracelets and he knew she was putting two and two together. "I expect you to keep that to yourself. I wouldn't have told you if I didn't think you couldn't."

She nodded slowly as she picked her head up all the way, "I will."

"And I expect you to talk to someone if you ever feel like you aren't yourself because of the bullying, alright?"

She breathed in slowly and let out a quick breath of air, "Okay."

He smiled at her, and gave her that eye-crease that made her heart flutter. "So where are we going for dinner?"

* * *

><p>"Hello! And welcome to Ichiraku!" The young waitress cheered as Sakura, Kakashi and Shizune sat at a booth at the back of the restaurant. "Would you like to hear tonight's specials, or perhaps Ichiraku's specialty dishes?"<p>

Shizune smiled, "I'd like the Calamari please, with the side of leaks."

Kakashi and Sakura exchanged disgusted looks before smiling at the younger waitress. Ayame, Sakura thought her name was.

Kakashi smiled, "I'll have the house eggplant with miso soup, and…I'll have water with that."

Sakura looked over her menu quickly, "I'll have the sesame chicken with the miso soup as well."

Ayame smiled, "Alrighty then, your meals will be out soon." She bounced off to wait on another table.

Sakura looked to her sister sitting across from her next to Kakashi. "Calamari, really?"'

She nodded, "I love it."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "Not to mention leaks."

"There is nothing wrong with it. You don't see me harassing you two over your food."

"Our food doesn't move when we poke it."

"Oh, pff. What sourpusses." She droned with a grin.

When their food was brought out, Shizune excused herself to the bathroom, leaving Sakura and Kakashi to watch her food as they slowly picked at there's.

Kakashi jumped when he poked the tentacle with one of the older woman's chop sticks and the thing twitched. Sakura nearly gagged.

"Eww."

Kakashi nodded, "Disgusting." He poked it again, it jiggled. He shuddered. "I have this sudden urge not to eat."

"You too?" She laughed lightly as she watched him eyes the squid. "It's kind of nasty looking, huh?"

"It moves."

"Nerve reflex."

"I don't care what the hell it is, it's fucking nasty."

She couldn't help but smile at him. A man she'd once deemed as a villain seemed now a hero in his own quirky way. Her trust in him growing ever stronger.

"Why didn't you make it to the fight in time?" She asked quietly picking at her chicken.

He sighed, "I got caught up in a personal matter."

"Like what?"

"Anniversary of Obito's death. I just kind of zone out when I'm reflecting on the past. It sounds corny, I guess, and like a really lame excuse, but I really wanted to be out there to help stop that fight. I just lost track of time."

Sakura's head hung a little, "It's not a lame excuse, Mr. Hatake. It's not an excuse at all, things happen, you know maybe the fight was supposed to happen." She smiled, "I landed a pretty good hit to Kiba's face."

"I saw that. Two black eyes and a broken nose. You must have one hell of a right hook." He laughed along with her. "Or Kiba's terrible at defense."

"On the contrary, he plays line backer on the football team."

"Hmm, never would have guessed…"

* * *

><p><em>The mind is known to make its own conclusions before the truth comes out, and my mind is guilty of such an accusation. Mister Hatake is not a villain but a hero, despite my before rants of the opposite matter. I learned of a truth in him tonight, one that affects his very being.<em>

_He has experienced the pain I feel, the confusion and the dark abyss of thoughts that say you aren't good enough or you're a freak, that the antagonist is right. He tells me of his trouble and my heart pounds with the empathy of pain and hurt, while it screams of sympathy towards the matter of which he found his bearings again. The death of a closest friend is something I can't but imagine. The pain would be unspeakable and the thought that he pulled himself from that in one piece is amazing. I would never wish a pain as great as that upon any human._

_For now, I can only hope that the kind words he spoke tonight help me escape the dungeon of my thoughts once again, only to seal the door closed forever._

_For some reason, I feel that flickering light of my candle growing stronger, perhaps getting brighter. My storms still rage, but the morning will come in due time, and bring the sunrise with it._

* * *

><p>Sakura looked around cautiously before skirting across the hall, and picking the lock on Mr. Hatake's door. When she heard the click from the knob she pushed the door in and closed it slowly behind her before making her way to his computer on the other side of the room.<p>

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hatake." She murmured as she turned it on the Mac, and logged-hacked was more like it- into his database system.

She opened his grading program and frowned when the encoding came up instead of the entry page. "What the hell?" She asked herself quietly as she used her finger to scan the words on the screen. "Shit."

"It's called an anti-hacking system. Made it myself; I didn't think you'd be the one to actually set it off though." Kakashi stood leaning in the doorway and Sakura could only stare.

He screamed of masculinity in the dim lighting, the thunder outside rolled and the occasional flash of lightning lit the darker contours of his face. Sakura felt her mouth go dry as she stared back at him in the doorway, her eyes drawn from the screen to the man. His arms were crossed over his chest, much like the night before, only this time the dark grey long sleeve-shirt hugged his body, and his dressy black vest hang open. Sakura's eyes roved over him, and over his dark jeans and the black converse he wore.

She was really loosing it, if she was fawning over him so greedily.

"I, uh…" She hung her head when she'd regained her thoughts. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head as he approached her, the door closing behind him with a quiet click. "I told you I would help with your test."

He'd probably stared longer than necessary at her; taking in all she was. Beautiful and witty, he was drawn to her, despite inner Kakashi's protesting against those thoughts.

"You have no idea the pressure I'm under to keep that grade up. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get accepted into Konoha University?" She pleaded, "It's ridiculously hard!"

"I realize that, I was turned down twice myself," He told her softly, "You're grades have to be very high in order to get into there. Do you really think if you get a ninety in my class that they'll kick you out?"

She shrugged, "It's not just that, Mr. Hatake. Shizune and Genma expect it from me, my friends, hell people that don't like me, all so the school will get that friggin' award that the country offers for a perfect one-oh-oh average."

He sat on his desk next to her and looked her in the eye, "I'm disappointed that you keep yourself under that stress for everyone else. Is it really worth it?"

"I want to go to a good school; I want to be good in my profession. I want to say that I made something out of myself."

"It's not the school that makes the profession it's the person doing that job." He smiled and glanced to the ceiling, "I went to KCC, got my bachelors degree in chemistry, and then eventually my doctorate in teaching. I never wanted to do anything else in my life, but teach. What is it you want to do?"

She sighed, "I want to wok in diagnostics."

"Oh, wow." He answered, "That's a shit load of college."

She shrugged, "It'd be worth it."

"Well, you aren't going to get into college if you keep cheating."

Her cheeks tinted red, "I just need to get those grades up…"

"Tell you what; I'll bump them both if you promise not to do it again."

"I promise." She smiled weakly, "Thank you."

He nodded, "Just don't let it happen again, alright?"

"Okay."

Kakashi shook his head as she left his room. His gaze lingering for longer than it should have on her backside. He'd tried so hard to not think about her in a sexy or erotic context, but there were something's he couldn't help and that was one of them. He was loosing it, he decided, and loosing it to Sakura Haruno.

**~xxx~**

A/N: Just wanted to say a quick thanks to those who reviewed on my story. It keeps me going to get those kind reviews :) This chapter was a little shorter than the other two, but this one sets me up for the next chapter and the fluffy-ish-stuff that accompanies it *hint, hint* and Reviews aren't necessary but are appreciated, thank you.


	4. Chapter 4

**A Different Kind of Hero**

X.} -different journal entries

**~xxx~**

Chapter 4

**~xxx~**

_1.}…The shadows are getting closer, the pain is getting worse, and I can't carry the charade much longer. I feel so broken. I need a hero to save me…_

_2.}…The side I never let them see, it's ugly. I feel its rage, and I don't know how much longer I can take this…_

_3.}…I talked with Mister Hatake today. I promised that I would speak to him if I had troubles, but I can't bring myself too, but he seems to understand that. He seems to get that I don't want to talk about it...but at the same time I do. He brings things up in small quantities and coaxes things from me. Then I break down and say things here and there to him._

_He says it's not good to keep everything bottled up, but sometimes I don't want to be better and put back together. I'm still a bit skeptical that he understands where I'm coming from with this but then I think about the stories I've been told, that he hides his scars physical and metaphorical, and I just kind of know that he gets it…_

_4.}…I'm so messed up…The taunting is getting worse but I can't bring myself to say anything…what is wrong with me?_

* * *

><p>Kakashi tied his bandanna around his neck loosely, the tip hanging corner of it just resting above where his heart was supposed to be. He tugged at it lightly, pulling it away from his neck so as not to choke himself before slipping into his jacket, he adjusted it with a roll of his shoulders.<p>

The October air was chilly and nipped with the wind as it blew over and around the village. Kakashi breathed in deeply before exhaling and watching the billowing cloud of steam that he produced fade away.

The weather man said it was going to snow any day, and Kakashi dreaded it. He absolutely loathed the winter months in Konoha, but he sucked it up and drove to school to start another day anew.

He knew Genma was going to complain when he got inside the school at his lack of appropriate clothing, meaning a jacket that had five feet of stuffing in it, but Kakashi didn't care. He preferred clothing that he could actually move in.

His brow rose when he found current secret fixation Sakura sitting in his classroom at his desk doing something on his computer. He'd gotten to know her over the last month, and considered her one of his most trusted confidents, regardless of the large age gap and the fact that she was his student.

"Uh-hum?" He cleared his throat.

She jumped when she heard him and blushed in fear that she'd been caught. "Hey?" She said awkwardly.

"You aren't doing what I think you're doing are you?"

"That depends on what you think I'm doing?"

"Are you trying to hack the grade systems? ... Again?" He sighed. She'd done this nearly a month ago. She'd tried to hack his grade system, to change her grades and while they'd gone up some, some wasn't good enough in Sakura's eyes. If anything he was disappointed in her.

She lowered her head in defeat, "Yeah. I can't get your damned thing down though."

He slowly stripped out of his jacket, placed it on the long desk next to his, and made his way to the rolling chair she sat in before he leaned forward from behind her, his hands braced on the desk before leaning in close to her, his lips at the shell of her ear, "I'll show you how then." His breath was warm as it tickled her ear with his whispered words laced thickly with innuendo.

She shuddered slightly almost completely oblivious to his fingers on the key board, typing a few simple commands with a quick; tac, tac, tac. She watched as the system opened and his classes' grades were shown alphabetically.

"I'm sorry." She murmured to him as he typed something into the computer from over her shoulders.

He shrugged with a hum.

"I really am."

"It's fine. I owed you anyway." He told her quietly closing out of the program. "Just don't get caught next time."

She laughed, "Sorry my ninja skills aren't up to par."

He smiled, "Not everyone can be as awesome as me."

"Pfft, way to be full of yourself." She sighed, "Are you going to the football game tomorrow night?"

"Homecoming, isn't it?" He asked moving back from the chair, putting some distance between them before she'd actually have to worry about getting his _thing_ down.

"Yeah."

"I might," He told her, "I'm not really a sports fanatic."

She shook her head, "Me either but its homecoming, and Naruto is quarterback." She watched Kakashi pull his gloves from his hands only to adjust the wide bracelets on his wrists and roll up his sleeves.

He pulled a book from his back pocket and flipped it open to a random page as he sat up on the long desk. He glanced to the page but ignored the words he was looking at. "So who are they playing?"

"Sunagakure. Akatsuki Sports College is coming to see if any of our players are worth the draft."

"Interesting."

* * *

><p>"Today, Class," Tsunade sneered with a sardonic smile, "Today we start book reports and posters. Pick your favorite book and write an essay on it and make a poster. The book mustn't be smutty or involve sex in any way."<p>

Sakura snickered lightly to herself; she knew exactly why Mrs. Sannin was giving them the warning. Kakashi's smut addiction had nearly gotten him thrown out of her class in his junior and senior years.

Tsunade smiled, "Miss Haruno, what book will you be doing your project on?"

"Frankenstein." Sakura said boldly.

"Good choice. Mr. Uchiha what will your book be?"

Sasuke shrugged, "Uh, Pride and Prejudice."

"Risky, but I like it." She droned as she continued on, marking down her class's choices of book. She was pretty pleased with them, save for Naruto and a few others who weren't really taking the project seriously.

Sasuke leaned over to Sakura, "Frankenstein, really? You do your project on that book every year."

"I could say the same with you and Pride and Prejudice." She chided as she doodled in her notebook, bored out of her mind.

"Ah, touché." He commented, twirling a finger in his longer bangs.

Naruto's brow stitched, "Why do you guys pick such big books to do your projects on? Pick something easy, like me."

Sakura laughed, "I don't really consider Green Eggs and Ham to be a good book."

"Dr. Seuss was a genius. I'd like to see you rhyme like that." The blonde crossed his arms over his chest, his chin in the air.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "We can rhyme in time, and you think those thoughts, we say yay but you say not, we rhyme the words you say we can't so here I am I take the chance, my names Sasuke, and she's Haruno, you say we can't but what do you know?"

Sakura rolled with laughter as Naruto's jaw dropped. "You just got served."

"Shut up. You guys are assholes." He hissed as the bell rang and he picked his books up. "So I'll see you guys next period?"

"Yup."-"Yeah"

Kakashi looked up from his computer screen as the bell rang and herds of children ranging in age rushed past his door. It made him smile as he listened to the fowl language they used thinking no one was listening. In all honesty it made him think of Sakura and the dirty mouth he'd learned she had.

She said things that put even Tsunade to shame and from his experience that was saying something. The English teacher down the hall had a vocabulary a mile long, but Sakura's easily breezed past hers.

He looked at his computer screen and shook his head with a frown. A mouth that dirty on someone that young shouldn't make him smile. Hell she shouldn't make him smile, but she did.

He should've turned her in for nearly hacking his computer -twice- but he knew she was desperate to keep her grades above passing. They'd developed a system and got along fairly well with it. She'd do him a favor and he'd do her one. They were even now; he'd made up his owing

He thought about her earlier question. Was he going to go to the game? He'd definitely thought about it. He'd thought about going for the thousandth time that day, and only because she'd asked him to.

He felt pathetic. He felt helpless around her, he felt breathless and he didn't care. He liked feeling like that, even if that feeling wasn't shared with her.

* * *

><p>Sakura couldn't focus during History, and she was having trouble through Chemistry as well.<p>

She felt bad for breaking her promise to Kakashi. The thing that was really distracting her was those damned jeans hugging that ass. She was completely lost to his masculine-feminine charm.

That and the promise of something explosive.

"This is a low energy mixture right? It doesn't seem to be doing too much in this beaker now does it?" Kakashi said with excitement as he placed the beaker in the hood next to Sakura's seat. "I'm going to add a couple drops of water and we'll see an explosive chemical reaction. Any one know what that special cabinet it called?"

Sasuke raised his hand, "A Hood?"

"No. It's the Scientific Box of Wonder." Kakashi smiled.

"No. I'm pretty sure it's called a hood. It's got special vents and stuff so that the chemicals don't seep into the air and kill us."

"Scientific Box of Wonder."

"Hood."

"Box of Wonder."

"Hood."

"Who has the degree in chemistry? I do. It's the scientific box of wonder." Kakashi's eyes met Naruto's, "What is it, Naruto?"

"A hood?"

"No. Sakura?"

"Scientific Box of Wonder?"

"Yes. Thank you. Gaara?"

The ginger shook his head, "I'm not getting involved."

Kakashi laughed and slid the glass doors open, squeezed the dropped twice and darted away from the cabinet as he closed the doors again. The class watched intently as the mixture in the beaker started steaming, a loud pop and a couple of girly squeals later, the class watched as the beaker flared with a green and purple fire.

"Whoa!"-"Amazing!"-"It made fire?"

Kakashi nodded, "It's a chemical change from low energy to high energy."

Sasuke smiled, "That was awesome."

"Yeah, it was huh?" Naruto grinned from ear to ear, looking at the forgotten notes on the board.

"So that's pretty much it. Monday we start notes on Gases." Kakashi said as he turned the smart board at the front of the room off. His dark eyes met Sakura's lighter ones and she blushed deeply, embarrassed that she'd been caught staring at him yet again. Her ninja skills were lacking terribly.

He smiled at her and she returned a weak grin nervously. Even his smile was amazing, she mused. Had he not confided in her some of his darkest secrets she'd assume he was one of the most perfect people she'd ever known. Aside from the porn addiction that everyone seemed to know of.

"I'll see you all Monday!" Kakashi called as his class left the room with the fourth period bell.

Sakura waved her good-bye and headed for health class.

She thrummed her fingers on her desk as she listened to Ino's incessant ranting and Asuma awkward conversation on the male reproductive system in detail. She needed to go to lunch, or punch something or anything. She felt like a ticking time bomb getting ready to go off. She could punch Kiba out again, or one of his goonies – Shino Aburame or Choji Akamichi – but then Ino would be angry with her. She was friends with every one, she was the popular girl.

Sakura didn't envy her one bit either.

When the bell rang, Sakura was the first one out the door and in the lunch line. She only had four periods left in the day and then she could go home for the week and write her heart out in her tech-journal.

When the final bell of the day rang, Sakura didn't even bother to stay and say good-bye to her friends. Her emotions were raging and she didn't know what to do with them. She felt so guilty she might confess a crime she didn't do, she was so angry she was willing to go out and commit said crime, and she was so confused that she felt like she was going in circles.

"Fuck!" Sakura hissed as she stormed into her house, tripping over the newspaper as she skipped up the stairs. "Genma needs to pick his shit up off of my fucking stair case."

Shizune looked up from the couch, "Someone is in a bad mood."

"Well he shouldn't leave his shit lying around."

"Watch your mouth."

She rolled her eyes and stomped upstairs into her room. She slammed her door and let out a howl of frustration and confusion before eyeing her computer and giving in. She needed to talk to someone and Kakashi had been so kind as to give her his personal email address. She didn't know what to do.

She opened the computer and logged into her email before send Kakashi a short message.

**- **_**Mr. Hatake,**_

_**I really need to talk to you. **_

_**~Sakura**_

She sat back against her headboard and rubbed her hands up and down the top of her thighs, needing something to do to keep her from tossing the things around her room. She jumped when her computer beeped telling her someone had messaged her.

_Okay. What's up?_

She let out a soft huff of air as she typed her reply to him.

_**I feel like I'm falling apart. I don't like feeling this way. The bullying is getting worse and I just want it all to stop. I'm so messed up.**_

Sakura sighed and wrung her hands together when she hit send, tears rolling down her cheeks in silence as she confessed to her teacher what was eating at her.

_You aren't messed up, Sakura-chan. The people teasing and taunting you are, don't you ever feel like it's your fault! I know you want it to stop, and it never will completely but please know that it does get better. No one ever likes to feel that way about themselves. What is it they say about you, or say to you?_

She hung her head and wiped at the tears on her cheeks, pulling herself together slowly but surely. She needed to get a grip, she told herself. She needed to pull together and fight through it again.

_**They tell me I'm a freak, that I just shouldn't talk and they throw things at me. Then there are the people that make fun of me because I'm friends with Sasuke and they say rude things about it and I act tough, I put on the charade but I'm just going down hill with this. I hate it.**_

She shook her head and started downstairs when Shizune called her name. She left her computer open and herself logged-in as she left the house with her sister.

_You aren't a freak Sakura, and believe me you aren't acting tough you really are. You're trying so hard to pull through for him and yourself and it takes a strong person to do so. So you're friends with Sasuke? It takes a truly great person to except others for who they are instead of taking the easy route and putting them in the ground with mean words and gestures. You are such a strong person, you have no idea. You don't see the side of you that I do, or that Genma, Shizune, Naruto or any of your other friends do. That's the side of you we, I, like so much._

_If that doesn't help, remember that you are stronger and prettier than every person that makes fun of you or anyone else. _

* * *

><p>Sasuke elbowed Sakura as the football game started and the Konoha Leaf Shinobi ran out onto the home field cheering. Sakura spotted Naruto's number, nine, and she cheered with the friend sitting next to her.<p>

"Yeah, Naruto!" She called out. It was cold enough out that she could see her breath and that of everyone around her and she didn't really care as the opposing team, the Suna Sand Devils entered out onto the field.

She smiled when the national anthems of both villages were sung, and the game began.

"Leaf will kick ass." Sasuke told Sakura as Naruto kicked the ball to start. "They're six-and-oh right now and if they keep it up they may go to nationals."

"It would be good if they did, huh? The football team hasn't been in years." She wrung her hands together, trying to keep them warm as she watched the game on the field. The home team side let out a howl as the Suna QB moved the ball down the field nearly forty yards.

"Damn they're good." A deeper baritone voice said in Sakura's ear as the second quarter started, nearly thirty minutes later.

Sakura picked her head up and smiled as her eyes roved over Mr. Hatake. He knew how to work the leather jacket, rock band tee, and those loose fitting darkwash skinny-jeans like it was his job. A teacher shouldn't look that good in skinny jeans period. He was her exception, not even Sasuke worked the denim the way her chem. instructor did.

He sat next to her on the bleachers.

"Yeah they are; that or our defense is terrible this year." She elbowed him as they watched the teams arrange themselves on the line of scrimmage.

"Maybe a bit of both." He laughed as he looked out over the field, "They've got bigger players too. I think, though, that if they switched the play instead of going for the Leaf Hurricane over and over they could one up Suna."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "I thought you weren't a sports fanatic."

"Knowing the game and being a fanatic are two different things. Hello, Sasuke."

"Hey, Mr. Hatake. Come to watch the game?" Sasuke asked absently, barely paying attention to his chemistry teacher as Naruto moved down the field to the two yard line. "YEAH, NARUTO!" He screamed with the rest of the crowd.

"Something like that." He glanced at Sakura and back to the field.

They watched the game slowly progress, the ball moving to opposite ends of the field by both teams. Sakura sighed and watched the billow-cloud of steam the she released with a smirk and a cocked brow. It was freezing outside.

Kakashi watched as Sakura shivered every so often, her thin coat doing a poor job at keeping her warm in the forty degree weather.

He leaned close to her, "I'm going to get a coffee, why don't you come with me and get something to warm you up?"

She turned her head to him, "I don't like coffee."

"You could get hot-chocolate; I don't know a football game that doesn't offer that." He whispered.

She thought about it momentarily, "Alright." She tugged on Sasuke's sleeve, "I'm going to get a hot-chocolate, okay?"

"Kay." He waved her off.

Sakura stood and followed Kakashi to the concession stand behind the bleachers and he bought both their drinks, despite her protests that she could get her own. He handed her Styrofoam cup and they slowly walked from the stand in silence.

"Leaf doesn't pick up the slack until after half-time; it'd be pointless to go back and watch right now." She told him matter-of-factly. They walked to the parking lot and just kept strolling.

"So I've heard." He sipped at his warm drink, "So what's your favorite subject so far?"

She looked at him skeptically, "What, are we playing twenty questions or something?"

"We are now."

She nodded slowly, "Okay. I like English because I like reading. What's your favorite book?"

"Make-Out Paradise. What's yours?"

She smiled at him, "Frankenstein. I've read it over and over. What's your favorite color?"

"Hmm…I don't really have a favorite, but since I have to answer I'm going to say green." He scratched at his chin, "What's yours?"

She shook her head and sipped at her hot chocolate, "Um, I like lime-green and dark red." She bit the inside of her cheek thinking of a good question, "Do you have a favorite sport?"

It wasn't that great a question, she thought. She didn't really want to ask anything crazy personal though. She didn't want to offend him.

He shrugged, "I like football and hockey." He sighed, "So um, awkward question, have you ever had sex?"

She spat her drink out and looked up at him unbelievingly with a sputter and cough. "Excuse me?"

He did not just ask that question, did he? He did, she mused, and he didn't seem the least bit ashamed. What the hell.

He smiled and scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Just curious." He lied. His interest had actually been peeked earlier that week when the entire senior class had taken a survey, he'd helped the business math class tally everything and he'd 'stumbled' across her paper and her answers.

"Bullshit, no one is ever _just curious _Mr. Hatake." She scolded playfully. "Lets say I answer the question what do I get?"

"I don't know. Ask me a personal question?"

"Fair enough." She nodded, "Yes. A couple times actually." She tapped her chin in mock thought, "When was the last time you got laid?"

"Pfft, I wish I could tell you but I don't remember. When I got out of college maybe? Who did you have sex with?"

"That's really personal." She wasn't embarrassed at the fact she'd had sex, she didn't want to answer to protect the other people.

"If you answer I'll owe you another favor."

"Okay." She smiled weakly, "Naruto three times. It was back with my first depression-thing, it kind of just happened and we were both at our wits end with my rollercoaster of emotions." She tossed her cup in a trash bin as they passed one, still walking, Kakashi followed suit and nodded slowly as she answered his question. "Why are you asking these questions?"

"My curious nature?"

"Uh-huh. It was the survey wasn't it?"

"What gave it away?"

"Naruto is in business math. He told me you helped tally the results."

Kakashi held his hands up guiltily, "Alright, you caught me."

She smiled and they continued on, rounding about the large parking lot as they walked down a small footpath used by the track and cross-country teams for their runs. Sakura admired the beauty of the small patch of trees, and the red orange leaves as they flittered with the wind.

She rubbed her hands together, "About that favor?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I borrow your gloves? My hands are freezing."

He smiled and laughed as he tugged on the fingertip of one of his gloves with his teeth before pulling the other off and handing the pair to the small woman next to him. He watched as she slipped the gloves onto her hands and rubbed them together to warm them with friction.

"Thank you." She told him quietly as they walked deeper into the small patch of trees, and into the colder shadows they cast. "It's freezing out today, like forty degrees or something?"

He glanced to her, "It was thirty-nine when I left my apartment. A bit ironic that homecoming would be so cold in leaf, huh?"

"Yeah." She replied coolly. "You aren't going to tell anyone are you?"

"A secret is a secret, no matter how big or small. My mouth is shut." He smiled and they continued on silently. Both enjoying the company and serenity of the small forest. He watched as the leaves twirled to the ground with the wind and out Sakura would stretch her hands out every so often in an attempt to keep them warm.

Sakura looked down when his hand bumped against the underside of hers, and his fingers fit in-between hers twining their hands to keep them both warm. Her gaze shot back up to his face, only to find him staring out still at the trees like he wasn't holding her hand. Not that she minded much, his hands were warm, and she really liked him.

It took a moment to get used to but she flexed her hand against his and twined their fingers a bit more properly. She was sure that if anyone ran by they could both get into some serious trouble but he seemed not to mind very much that they were infact holding hands just outside the school.

She let a small smile play on her lips as they walked onward.

Kakashi turned his head towards her the slightest bit and grinned the crooked movie star smile of his at her, "You have cold hands."

"That's why I'm borrowing your gloves." She retorted with amusement, feeling giddy.

"Hmm, I guess the rumor is true then."

She looked back up at him, "What rumor?"

"If you have cold hands, you have a warm heart." He told her quietly looking back out over the forest floor painted orange and red and purple with the leaves of autumn.

Sakura felt her heart flutter at his words, her face most definitely turning a shade of pink. She didn't comment on what he'd said, she just held his hand a little tighter and let her smirk play on her lips again.

If it was any consolation to her, his hands were freezing.

* * *

><p>Sasuke looked up from his nachos as Sakura and Kakashi started towards his seat on the bleachers, "Where the hell have you been? Its fourth quarter, you've been gone for two hours!"<p>

Sakura shrugged and smiled, "Well, Mr. Hatake locked his keys out of his car, so he couldn't get his hat, so he had me shimmy in through the trunk only to find out he left his hat at home." She told her friend as she took her seat next to him.

Kakashi nodded as she quickly lied through her teeth, covering both their asses. "Who's winning?"

"Suna, by seven. If Naruto can get the team to pick it up here in the last five minutes, we'll win."

Sakura looked to the score board across the field surprised by the twenty-eight point pick up they'd gotten. They were kicking some serious ass now it seemed, she hadn't minded missing it though.

She'd been perfectly at ease holding Kakashi's hand on their little stroll through the trees. She'd been the one to pull her hand away when they'd come into the clearing, much to his disappointment.

Her eyes met his quickly, and she sighed at the warmth she saw in the lusty grey depths of his eyes and the half-lidded gaze that made her heart pound. Even from underneath his screen of long, dark lashes she saw the spark of heat in the cold surrounding them and she felt warm for the first time in a long time.

**~xxx~**

Thank you all for the favorites I've been receiving, it means a lot to know that so many people like this story that much. On that note, I wanted to thank all the people the reviewed, you guys made my week.

Okay, so it was realllllly minor fluff, but fluff is fluff right? I want to take their relationship slowly instead of rushing it like I usually do, so I hope you guys hold out with me.

I was kind of fretting over the hand holding scene, I didn't want it to seem too corny but at the same time I wanted a bit of sweetness with it. So, it's not necessary, but I'd like to know how it was read as.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Different Kind of Hero**

~finally some KakaSaku action!

**~xxx~**

Chapter 5

**~xxx~**

…_Morally… It's wrong from both stand points. He_ is _my teacher, and I am his student. I'm not saying it's going anywhere either, I'm just addressing the possibility. _

_I _do_ know that I liked holding his hand earlier. I liked the warmth I felt, and the actual strength of someone who is there for me. From someone who might turn out to be my misfit hero after all._

She shook her head as she signed out and lay back on her bed, her mind racing. She rolled over and growled to herself at the little red lights on her clock that told her it was only half past ten. She shook her head and sat, tugging at the loose fitted-shirt she wore for pajamas. She liked how it had the curve where her hips were, and she loved that it was too big for her.

She stepped onto her carpet and made for the door before unhurriedly going downstairs. She heard Genma close the downstairs bathroom door when she hit the first floor landing and she shrugged and made her way into the kitchen deciding she was hungry and cold.

"Hmm, wouldn't be cold if I were wearing pants now would it?" She asked her self, amused that she was actually thinking about not wearing pants in the first place.

"Possibly, but chances are you would be a hell of a lot warmer."

Sakura froze before turning around slowly to face Kakashi sitting at the kitchen island with a bottle of alcohol in hand. Oh that's right…she thought, Genma was having a few friends over for drinks as a congratulatory party for actually ending his lease and officially moving in.

She didn't say anything as she stared at him, almost scared to move. It wasn't like the shirt was extremely long on her, he'd probably been flashed a good portion of her underwear when she'd bent down to one of the lower cabinets for a bag of popcorn. She tugged at the hem, "So um…I was bummed that Leaf lost to Suna this afternoon."

"Yeah. Sucks when you loose on your own turf…" He scratched the back of his head sheepishly as she tugged at the hem of her shirt with one hand and her bangs with the other.

She nodded, "Mm-hmm. Um…I'm just going to finish making my popcorn," she reached behind her and grabbed the bag, "and go back upstairs."

He shrugged and sipped at his beer, "Okay."

"No you aren't supposed to say okay! Don't you watch the movies? You're supposed to say something else, try and stop me or make some kind of perverted comment."

"Would you like me to do one of those things?"

"Maybe." She whined as she punched the buttons on the microwave.

He tapped his chin, "Um…I didn't ever really picture you as the…uh-hum, lacy type."

She blushed and face palmed. She just had to open her mouth. "You would."

"You asked me to."

"You could've taken one of the other choices."

"Perverted was the most fun, thinking it through."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to her popcorn as the microwave beeped loudly. She set the bag on the counter and stretched up to one of the higher cupboards for a bowl. She set it on the granite counter and reached forward for a glass and she froze when she felt Kakashi press his front against her back, pinning her to the counter.

She shuddered when he whispered huskily in her ear, "Would you prefer I try and stop you?"

"Hmm…That depends on your methods of stopping the unstoppable, Mr. Hatake…" She cooed back at him in the sexiest voice she could muster. She hoped it sounded sexy to him, because she thought she sounded like a hoarse-cat.

"Stopping the unstoppable… I'm pretty sure my methods are illegal."

"All the more reason to try."

He laughed and went back to his beer on the island as the bathroom door opened and Genma came out, waving a hand in front of his face, "I wouldn't go in there for a while."

"Eww." Sakura shivered, "That's nasty."

Kakashi hummed in agreement, his cheeks flushed red with what Sakura assumed was lust. She was practically melting in her panties from just him whispering in her ear, she still felt that way just looking at him. If that's what he looked like when he teased, she could only imaged his face when he pleased.

"I'm going to…uh…I'm going back upstairs." She nodded curtly before grabbing her bowl and bag and dashing from the room, embarrassed and turned on.

Genma cocked and eyebrow, "What was that about?"

Kakashi's gaze flicked from the doorway to Genma, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

He shrugged, "She seemed in a hurry to get away from us. What did you do?"

"You were the one making the disgusting comment."

"Oh yeah…" He smiled as he pulled his phone from his pocket and read the message slowly, "Damn. I have to go pick Shizune up, she got sick and they want her to leave. Can you keep an eye on Sakura, and we'll finish this when I get back?"

Kakashi nodded, "Sure." His darker half was laughing silently, while good Kakashi shook his head at the thoughts passing both their minds. "I doubt she needs much watching though."

"I just don't want her alone right now, with her whole dark-angry depressed thing going on. Thanks."

"Yup." The chemistry teacher drawled as he finished his bottle off while Genma grabbed his coat and left. He eyed the doorway, and debated doing what he wanted to do. Dark Kakashi wanted to go upstairs, throw her down and screw her senseless, Good Kakashi wanted to just check on her and mind his own business. Middle Kakashi smiled and thought that it had been a long time since the dark side of him had gotten laid. He laughed as he moved for the staircase.

Sakura looked up from her TV when someone knocked at her door, "What?"

"Just me. Genma wanted me to baby-sit you while he's gone to pick up Shizune." Kakashi told her smoothly as he entered her room. "I think you can handle yourself though."

"Mm, I think I can too. For now at least." She smiled as she scooted to the left side of her bed bowl of popcorn on the floor along with the half full bag, "Wanna watch TV?"

Who was he to refuse an offer from such a nice young girl? "Why not?" He toed his shoes off and sat cross legged next to her on the bed watching the flat-screen. "What are we watching?"

"Hmm…Well I'm just surfing right now." She observed him from her sprawled on position. "Why did you hold my hand earlier?"

He glanced down, "You were cold, I was cold, you know, it kept our hands warm didn't it?"

She nodded slowly, "It did, but you are a terrible liar Mr. Hatake. They obviously didn't give you that ANBU tat because you were good at lying."

His hand went to his arm, his brow stitching with curiosity, "How do you know about that?"

"The tat? It was simple really, for starters, you wear t-shirts all the time and you have this nervous habit of scratching your shoulder underneath your sleeve on your left side. Other than that, it's probably the stories I've heard from Genma and how you were both part of ANBU when you got out of school. Genma dropped from training but you continued on, right?" She sat up and hugged a pillow to her chest.

He nodded his head, "I guess I didn't really hide it all that well, huh? Yeah we went to training together, I went on for nearly three more years. Then I got my degrees in chemistry and here we are now."

She scratched her chin, "Not to be rude or anything, but do they seriously let you in after the…if you've committed harm against yourself?"

"They aren't as strict on that sort of thing as the normal military; they just want soldiers willing to do anything to get the job done."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Have you ever had to kiss another guy?"

He laughed, "Would it make you happy if I said yes?"

"It would make me happier if you told me you've done that of your own will." She slurred, "About what happened in the kitchen…We're you really going to, um, stop me?"

"Would it make you happy if I said yes?"

She smiled, "Would it make _you_ happy if _I_ said yes?"

He leaned forward, his nose almost touching hers, "You have no idea."

She closed the distance and pressed her nose against his, "I could probably handle the answer, _Kakashi, _I'm pretty smart."

"Believe me, I know Sakura, that's just one of the many things about you that gets me going." He couldn't believe he'd actually said that to her. He couldn't believe that she was willing to argue back in this proximity. He could believe it though when she smiled, gave a light laugh and a cocky remark.

"Get you going?" She said tugging on the blue bandanna around his neck, "What else about me does that to you, hmm?"

"I like those glasses. They make you look sexy and smart," You're pushing it, Kakashi told himself, but he didn't like quitting things before they even got started. "You have amazing eyes and I've wanted to kiss those lips since day one." He enlightened her, his voice deep and husky. "From there, I think just about everything about you lights my fire."

She shuddered as his breath whispered across her skin, as he confessed his feelings towards her. This couldn't be happening she pleaded with herself; she couldn't be sitting in her bed with her teacher confessing dirty fantasies they'd had about eachother. That just didn't happen to Sakura.

"We aren't really sitting here, are we?" She asked breathlessly, "This isn't really happening?"

His light laugh rumbled deep in his chest. He grabbed her hands and twined their fingers before slowly moving forward and brushing his lips against hers, testing the water. He was ecstatic when she kissed him back; her lips moving against his.

She looked at him from underneath a screen of long dark pink lashes, biting her lip nervously. He moved towards her lips again, this time pressing a little firmer. She sighed contently as she kissed him back, all her doubts gone. This was happening. This was real, and she loved every minute of it.

She loved the danger, the sensuality, him, and most of all she loved that he didn't judge her for anything. She couldn't explain how happy that made her that he liked her like this despite her emotional problems and the other baggage she seemed to carry.

He pulled his hands from hers and cupped her face before resting his forehead against hers, "We have to keep this a secret, Sakura."

"Duh." She told him, still woozy and lightheaded from the kiss. "We could get in a lot of trouble."

"Mmhmm…" His lips brushed lightly against hers again before he looked her in the eyes. He pulled her glasses from her face and set them to the side, smiling at her. "I think you look beautiful, you know."

She blushed, "You're the first person that's ever told me that."

He moved and kissed her long and hard after the words left her mouth. He could hardly believe he was the first person to tell her she was pretty with and without those damned BC glasses. She was absolutely stunning in his eyes, exotic and wild and carrying the same baggage as he. There was just something about this damsel in distress that made his heart pound a little harder, and made him think a little more. What ever it was, he loved it.

* * *

><p>"If I cannot inspire love, then I will cause fear." Sakura said aloud to the class as she presented her book, "This line is important because it shows the duality of the Being in Frankenstein. He started good and benevolent, but misery and the hatred of the human race made him evil and malicious. The real monster is Doctor Frankenstein himself, at least in my eyes. He left the Being to himself after his creation simply because he was not pretty enough. Victor was so caught up in his work that he didn't realize the downfalls of his experimenting, leaving the Being to be alone and desolate for the rest of his life."<p>

Sakura rubbed her hand over the spine of the book for the hundredth time in the last ten minutes, "That's my report on Frankenstein."

"Very good Sakura!" Tsunade cheered, "That was wonderful."

She nodded and took her seat next to Sasuke as Naruto went to the front of the room to present his book.

"The main character, Sam is trying to get his buddy to eat green eggs and ham, but he wont even try it. Um, he sort of stalks him until he forces him to try it and in the end, the other guy likes the food. I like the rhyming. That's my report."

"How very um…unique."

"Why, thank you!"

Sasuke snickered, "I don't think that was a comment dobe." Sasuke eyed Sakura and how she would slowly close her eyes only to wake back up again with a jolt. Someone hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before. "Psst, Sakura."

"Hmm?"

"What time did you go to bed?"

"I dunno," She mumbled, "Late?"

"Obviously. Like how late? It's not like you to stay up all night before a big report or something."

"I was watching the Ninja Warrior marathon last night." She said dully as she ran her hand through her hair.

"Oh, damn I missed it again."

* * *

><p>"So that concludes today's lesson on the history of the Hokage." Genma uttered aloud, "Tomorrow we start in on the Kazekage and Mizukage. Don't forget your reports are due at the end of the week."<p>

Sakura rolled her eyes as Genma continued on with his drawn out introduction. She thrummed her fingers on the desk as she watched the clock, ticking slower than usual.

"Good-bye!" Genma yelled as the class dashed for the door.

He was a good teacher, Sakura thought, with a boring subject. Even she wanted to sleep in his class.

She slowly made her way into Kakashi's classroom, only to find him in the back of the room on top of one of the lab tables monkeying with one of the burners.

"What are you doing?"

"Fixing a gas leak."

"With the burner on? Sometimes I wonder about that degree you say you have."

"Never said I had a degree in common_" He dropped the burner, "Ouch!" he waved his hand back and forth trying to cool the burn. Sakura rushed to the back of the room to help him.

She grabbed the knob and turned the flame off before taking his hand from his mouth and looking at the burn, "That's going to be a bitch," She told him matter-of-factly, "You should probably run it under some cold water and put some kind of aloe vera on it."

He smiled weakly at her, "Thank you nurse Sakura."

She laughed as he lowered himself from the table and ran his hand underneath the spigot with the water turned on cold. She looked towards the doorway as the other students filed in, all looking at the questionable scene.

"What happened?" Naruto asked confused.

"I burned my self," He told them, "Sasuke will you go up to the front and grab that little bottle under the counter with the green gel in it?"

"Sure." The Uchiha replied as he set it bag down. He went around the desk and pulled the bottle from the cabinet and walked it back to Kakashi, "You should probably have that checked on, Mr. Hatake."

He shrugged, "I'll be fine. Just start your notes guys," His eyes met Sakura's, "I need your help."

She nodded and helped him apply the aloe to his burn before wrapping it with a roll of bandages he kept on hand. "There," she said quietly, "Just keep it wrapped and you should be fine."

He smiled at her, "Thank you. You can go start on the notes."

She nodded and went to her desk.

Kakashi made his way to the front of the room, "Today's lesson is shut off the fire before you play with the burner." He chuckled.

He continued on, droning about the gases subject. Sakura couldn't even pay attention to his words; those dark gazes he kept shooting towards her were driving her mad.

When the bell rang she walked up to him, "I have study hall this period, it's one of those off days, can I stay in here and work on the quiz I failed?"

"Yeah," He smiled as he started shifting through a sheave of paper for her test, "Here." He handed it to her, "I want you to redo questions three and four, and then I'll go over six, seven, nine, ten and eleven with you."

"Alright." She said as she sat at the desk in front of his. "Um, I forget, how do you calculate the joules needed to heat the water?"

He looked up from his screen, "q equals m times c times delta t; how many grams of water are there?"

"It says three."

"Then it's three times four point one-eight times the change in temperature."

She looked down at the paper and frowned, "Um, alright…" She worked the problem out on the paper. "I don't get it."

He looked up, "Is it that you don't get it, or does it not make sense to you?"

"A little bit of both, I think."

He bit the inside of his cheek, "You helped me with my burn, why don't I bump your grade to a seventy and we'll call it even?"

She shook her head, "I have to learn this if I want to pass those damned tests at the end of the year."

"You will learn it, I promise."

She sighed, "Okay."

"Do you want to go over the paper, or do you just want to toss that one?"

"Can we toss it?"

He smiled, "Yeah. Last one this marking period though, alright?"

"Thank you." She crumpled the paper and tossed it over hand to the recycling bin next to his desk. "Score." She said when it bounced in off of the rim.

"What are you doing for Halloween?" he asked casually rubbing his stubble covered chin.

She shrugged, "Watching the Nightmare Before Christmas? Maybe trick-or-treating with the boys."

"Want to go to Scream Tunnel?"

She raised an eyebrow, "You mean that scary maze, haunted house thing?"

"Yeah that thing."

She thought about it for a moment, "Well, yeah. Genma would never take me because he's a scaredy cat, and Shizune's the same way."

Kakashi cleared his throat, "Genma was the one who suggested that I take you. He said you needed to get out of the house."

"Wow, how lame of him. I thought you were asking me."

"I was, doesn't mean because he brought it up it didn't cross my mind."

"We'd have to take the boys; it would be weird if just you and I went, to them at least."

He gave her a skeptical, "Like I would buy four tickets just so I could take you." He fanned out the black and purple slips of paper in his hand, "I may not be great when it comes to common sense but I'm not completely lost to it."

She smiled, "You have no idea how happy they'll be."

"I could probably handle the answer Sakura, I'm pretty smart." He replied playfully with her line from Saturday night.

She rolled her eyes with a laugh as the bell rang, "I'll see you later, Kakashi."

"Is that a promise?"

"I guess you'll have to find out."

"My methods may be illegal."

"All the more reason to try."

* * *

><p>"You're shitting me, right?" Sasuke stammered as Sakura told them the good news. "Mr. Hatake is taking us to Scream Tunnel? Tickets for that are like…fifty dollars a person!"<p>

"Genma paid I think. I said we'd be happy to go, he can drive us and I don't think he's the type to scare easy." Sakura said reassuring her friends. She looked to Naruto, "You're being awfully quiet."

Naruto smiled, "I think Mr. Hatake just became my favorite teacher."

"Mine too."

Sakura grinned, "I'll get the details from him after school, okay?"

"Yeah."-"Okay."

Sakura smiled and looked out over the lunch room before leaning in close, "I have to tell you guys something really important okay?"

"Alright." Sasuke drawled, "What's up?"

"Not here. Why don't you come over after school?"

"Okay."

Naruto nodded, "Okay, um…why is Kiba walking towards us with his lunch?"

Sasuke and Sakura looked up from eachother only to find said Inuzuka stalking towards them. "Oh no." Sakura muttered. "What do you want Kiba?"

"Paybacks are a bitch." He muttered before dumping his tray of food all over Sakura. She ran from the cafeteria in tears.

* * *

><p>She sat in the bathroom sobbing, her knees pulled up to her chest. She could here the people in the hallway calling for her, but she didn't answer. She was mortified and embarrassed and most of all, hurting inside.<p>

Why were people so cruel to one and other?

Sasuke ran to the teachers lounge and pounded on the door waiting for at least one to come answer his calling. He and Naruto couldn't find Sakura, and they were worried.

Sasuke nearly cried with relief when Genma answered the door, "What's up?" He asked concerned but a smile still splayed on his face.

"That asshole, Kiba, just dumped his lunch all over Sakura and now we can't find her."

Genma's half grin completely vanished, "He did what?"

"He dumped his lunch on her, and now she's run off hiding somewhere. I'm worried."

Kakashi perked up as he listened to Sasuke's frantic talking. He stood and made his way to the doorway, "We'll find her."

They left the lounge and started searching.

Kakashi looked to Genma, "Do you want to get F-wing? I'll take C?"

"Okay, check the bathrooms and closets and wherever else she could hide. Sasuke, I want you to go get Dean Sarutobi, okay?"

Sasuke nodded and dragged Naruto along with him, leaving the teachers to find Sakura. Genma moved down the hallway and started opening doors and calling out for her. Kakashi left around the corner and started searching the bathrooms.

He opened the door to the girls' lavatory, "Sakura?" he called quietly.

He sighed when she didn't answer but he spotted the toes of her shoes peaking out from behind one of the built in wall barriers. He entered and crouched down next her, his hand on her knee. "Sakura."

She didn't look up and stayed silent.

"Sakura, are you okay?" He looked her over and closed his eyes, "Sakura look at me."

She picked her head up slightly, her cheeks stained with the tracks of her tears. "Why are people so mean to others?" She managed before lowering her head and crying again.

"Because that's all they have sometimes. It makes them feel more powerful, there are all kinds of reasons for it but what matters the most is how you react to it. Letting this bog you down won't help much, but standing and fighting with fists won't either. It's how _you_ look at bullying that counts. I know you don't see only evil in him, you fight back verbally and physically, but outside of that you don't talk shit about him, you give the benefit of the doubt over and over again because you understand it more than you think you do."

"I give the benefit because that's all I know to do."

"It's because you see the good in him, not the evil that he displays."

She wiped at her tears, "I'm tired of it. I want something, anything to happen so that he knows what it's like."

"Maybe he does. Maybe his home life is terrible and he comes to school and bullies you and Sasuke because that's all he has to keep him feeling human."

Sakura's eyes met his, "What do you mean?"

"I bullied Obito for the longest time because_ he_ was how I looked at myself. Goofy and hated by a lot of people, despite how popular I was. I only did it so I wouldn't feel so alien in my own skin. My father was an alcoholic and he'd yell at me constantly, and knock me around occasionally. My home life was shit, so I took it out on the kid I saw myself the most in." He confessed, "I'm not proud that I did it, but I am proud that I stopped and tried to see everything from the point of view of others. You do that without trying."

"Oh…" She whispered, "That makes sense… but why is Sasuke is main target… you don't think he's…is he?"

Kakashi shrugged, "I never said this, but that would be my best guess."

She wiped her eyes again and looked down at her clothes, "I think I'm just going to have Genma drive me home now…"

He nodded, "Okay." He took her hand and helped her to her feet.

"I'd give you a hug but…" She gestured to her dirty clothing.

He shook his head and pulled her to him, his arms wrapping around her. She wrapped her arms around his back and rested her cheek against his chest. His chin rested atop her head and he sighed.

"Thank you." She murmured. He was proving to be her hero after all, and she only hoped that he knew that.

**~xxx~**

Well I hope you guys liked that chapter – I liked writing it, and was happy I made it past the evil chapter five. I always seem to get stuck on number five, so this is an accomplishment for me.

Thank you for all the reviews I've received, it keeps my going to know that people like this story so much. More fluffy-limey stuff to come, and some Halloween related themes.


	6. Chapter 6

**A Different Kind of Hero**

**~xxx~**

Chapter 6

**~xxx~**

"So what was the big secret you had to tell us?" Sasuke asked, his interest greatly peaked at the knowledge of Sakura trying to keep a secret from them.

She leaned closer to them, "You have to promise not to say a word. I'm not the type to kiss and tell but I think I should let you guys know."

"We swear."

"Yeah," Naruto nodded briskly, "Our mouths are sealed."

She sighed, "I kissed Mr. Hatake."

"You did what?" Sasuke hissed under his breath, "You kissed him?"

Naruto watched Sakura, completely shocked. "He's our teacher!"

"I know, I know, but he's so good looking and you don't know him like I do." She pleaded with them, "He's such a good guy, and he really understands me."

Sasuke's face paled, "What were you really doing on Saturday when you guys disappeared?"

"Just walking, nothing really happened."

"But something did, right?"

"We held hands, that's all I swear." She held said hands up in defense.

Naruto eyed her suspiciously, "So when did the lip-locking happen?"

"Saturday night. He came over to celebrate with Genma and then G had to leave and pick up Shizune so he sent Kakashi to watch me, and we talked a little and it just kind of went from there." She rubbed her arms to warm herself of the chill she felt.

The boys mulled over what she'd told them for a few moments. Naruto was the first to recover, "So was it like a peck on the lips or a full out tonsil hockey kiss?" He asked a smile plastered across his face now.

Sasuke let out a snort before giggling to himself, "To be honest, I was wondering the same thing."

Sakura smiled, "The first one was really gentle and tender and stuff_"

"The first one?" they asked in unison.

She nodded, "Yeah, We kissed more than once that night."

"Oh, okay. Continue." Sasuke rolled his hand edging her on.

"The second was a little, well, firmer I guess. And the third was a lot like the first one."

"No tonsil hockey?"

"Nope."

"Damn, he is a gentleman isn't he?" Sasuke sighed. "He is so good-looking too, you're lucky Sakura."

She smiled, "Hmm, I wasn't really sure how you guys were going to take it."

"I think it's damn cool that you're hooked up with a teacher." Naruto told her as he hugged her pillow tighter to his abdomen, "It's kind of kinky."

"Kinky, or sexy?" Sasuke chided his friend. "If he wanted to have sex would you say yes?"

Sakura shrugged, "Would you?"

"Lalala I can't hear you two!" Naruto yelled as he put his hands over his ears.

"If I wasn't going to get caught."

She shrugged, "I don't think I'm near ready to have sex with him, even if he dashed through that door naked I don't…Okay maybe if he dashed through the door naked, but that's beside the point. I'm not really looking for a sexual relationship, at least not while I'm still so fucked up emotionally."

Naruto patted her on the shoulder, "Then don't turn around."

She turned her head and punched him in the arm when she found no one standing in her doorway.

She hung her head after that, "Thanks for kicking the shit of Kiba for me."

"Yeah. He deserved it."

Naruto scratched his chin, "I don't think I've ever seen you bounce back from something like that so fast, what did Mr. H say to you?"

Sakura felt her cheeks redden, "He just knows the right things to say, like he'll start out by bringing you down more and then somehow he just says some kinda line and its like wow this isn't that bad. I don't really know how to explain it."

"Well whatever he said obviously worked." Sasuke told her matter-of-factly.

.xxx.

"So, um, what night is Scream Tunnel?"

Kakashi picked his head up from his book and looked across the livingroom at Sakura who sat curled in her easy chair, "Come again?"

"When are we going to the haunted maze?"

"The twenty-ninth." He told her skimming over the next page. "It starts at eight o'clock."

She nodded, "Okay. The boys were wondering so I told them I'd ask you."

He smiled, "So were you guys squealing about earlier? I get that some things excite people but you were practically down right screaming."

She blushed, "Our favorite song came on the radio."

He cocked a brow at her, "Uh-huh, and I was born last night. What's up?"

"Nothing that concerns you Mr. Hatake." He ran her hand through her hair, trying to distract herself.

"Liar. You're face tends to redden the slightest bit when you lie, and you're beet red Sakura." He grinned at her and tugged at his bandanna, "Were you talking about me?"

"Perhaps. That tends to happen with a good looking teacher though, and then the whole teacher-student fetish thing starts, you know."

He leaned forward, his chin in his hand and his elbow resting on his knee, "Is that so?"

"Yeah, some people find that as a turn on."

"That's what fetish implies isn't it?"

"You aren't an English major, I thought I'd elaborate." She told him smoothly, "Wouldn't want to over load that scientific brain of yours with big words."

He ran his tongue along the inside of his bottom teeth in mock anger, "I wouldn't get to cocky there if I was you, Sakura, I might just blow your mind…with my mouth."

She waved a finger back and forth, "Kakashi, that's laced with innuendo; oh wait, that's a big kid word."

"Oh yeah?" He moved across the room and leaned over her in the chair, "You're getting awful cocky yourself, aren't you?"

She kissed the tip of his nose, "I'm not cocky, I'm right."

He smiled, "Mm, yes you are." He stood up straight and stretched his arms above his head his shoulders and elbows popping loudly. "God I'm getting old."

She snorted, "I hardly think that thirty-two is old."

He eyed her, "As opposed to eighteen?"

"Hey what can I say? I like older men." She smiled back at him and darted from the chair when he moved to grab her. She laughed as he chased her into the kitchen, through the hallway and up to the top of the stairs when they ran through the livingroom again.

Shizune looked up from her soup and shook her head as she continued stirring it, "I'm not on call so when one of you two gets hurt, don't come running to me!" She yelled to them.

She liked that Sakura came out of her shell around Kakashi; he was kind and nonjudgmental and they seemed to get along splendidly. It made her smile to know that someone besides Sasuke and Naruto made her smile, not that she didn't like them, they were like her brothers they were around so much; she just liked seeing that side of Sakura.

Sakura ran into her room and to close the door behind her, only to turn and find Kakashi sitting on her bed, legs stretched out. "How the hell did you do that?"

He grinned, "It's a secret."

"Ooh, I like secrets."

He motioned for her with a curl of his finger and a come hither look. She obediently trotted over to him, standing in between his outstretched legs. Her hands slid over his shoulders and she grinned as she pressed her forehead against his.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her to him. "Anata wa, utsukushii midori no me o motte iru."

She looked at him confused, "What?"

"I can't tell you."

"Was it a good thing?" She asked.

"Mmhmm, I'll tell you what it means later."

She nodded, "I want to know." She nuzzled his nose with hers, "Please?"

His lips brushed against hers, "I said, you have beautiful green eyes."

She blushed and kissed him back tugging him forward by his bandanna, "Really?"

"Yes, really." He smiled against the kiss and pulled her flush against his front. "Did you get your homework done?"

She rolled her eyes, "You would ruin the moment with school."

"What can I say, I love it." He grinned.

"Speaking of which, I want to show you something," She moved towards her closet and began rummaging around, "I found this stuff going through stuff Genma was going to throw out."

"You went through his garbage?"

"No, its just stuff he didn't want anymore." She told him as she pulled a small box from the floor and carried it towards the bed. "It's a bunch of stuff from when you guys were in school." She crawled up next to him and started removing things from the box. "This is you right?" She asked tapping a tall, lanky silver haired boy dressed in a basketball uniform along with others she recognized, Genma, Iruka Umino, and Asuma Sarutobi, and others she didn't.

He smiled and pulled the picture lightly from her hand, "Yeah, that's me." He laughed, "I looked like a dork back then, and still the ladies fawned over my like cats in heat."

She snorted at his simile, "Nice, Kakashi." He looked back to the photo in his hand, "You didn't look like a dork, just like you needed a hair cut. Could you even see with you hair that long?"

"Sometimes," He said with a light chuckle, "Coach Sarutobi hated that I kept my hair that long, but I was his star player, so he sucked it up."

She pulled another photograph from the box, "What about this one?" She pointed to a brunette sitting next to Kakashi with her arm wrapped around Genma's neck.

"That's Rin." He sighed, "She and Genma were really close when we were sophomores. The kid to my left is Obito; he had the biggest crush on her. I guess now I can see why, she was really pretty."

"You mean you didn't think she was pretty back then?"

"I just didn't see her like that, I still don't I just came to terms with the fact that she was pretty."

"That sounds odd."

"Hmm?"

She shrugged, "It's like you didn't want her to be pretty."

"I was jealous actually, that she was the center of attention to my closest friends at first. I came to know her though. She was a sweetheart, and I could see why they liked her so much. To be honest I've never really actually been in a true relationship," His charcoal eyes met her viridian ones, "I've had countless one-night stand and weekend fucks, but never really anyone to call my own. I don't make friends or connections as easily as others do."

She nodded slowly. She wanted to ask what she was to him, but refrained from doing so, in hopes that the mood would pick up when she lifted the next picture, "What is this?"

He howled with laughter as she showed him, "That Sakura, is what Genma looks like in drag. We got wasted at our graduation party and that's where our drunken stupor led us. Good thing I was behind the camera because I was wearing Shizune's six inch hooker boots and tight spanky-booty short things."

Her brow rose in question.

"We were shitfaced. Be glad we didn't do anything worse than cross dress." He told her setting the picture to his side. "What else is in the box?"

She pulled a bottle of Konoha Ale and an envelope filled with questionable items. "The envelope has fifteen different pairs of thongs, and the bottle isn't opened. What the hell was he planning on?"

Kakashi shook his head, "They discontinued Konoha Ale almost ten years ago. Just inhaling that shit would plaster you, and the thongs…um, I don't know where those came from. Why did you keep them?"

She smiled, "All in due time, you will see."

"Do I want to?"

"Maybe." She told him slyly with a cock of her brow. "Do you want this?" She held out the bottle, "It won't do me much good and you seem to know more about it than I do."

He waved it off, "I can't remember anything at all about the nights I drank that stuff, I could have been fucked by a cross-dressing-monkey-butt-licking-cow and not know it to this day."

"What?"

"Never mind. I'd keep that if I were you, put it in your closet or something. If you ever want amnesia drink it, if you want a lot of money when your older sell it, or if you want to see your friends with amnesia and you want the money, sell it to them and tell them to drink it."

She laughed, "You are so warped."

"Some people take that as a compliment."

.xxx.

Sasuke watched the clock counting down the time as it ticked by too slowly. He couldn't wait for tonight, Kakashi was taking them to Scream Tunnel and it was going to be a blast.

He had his outfit planned out completely, and he had Naruto's outfit picked out and he was currently putting together Sakura's in his mind.

When the bell rang, he rushed to his locker and out to the top of the steps where Naruto, Hinata and Gaara stood chatting.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey!"-"Hello."-"…"

"You ready for tonight, dobe?" He asked with excitement.

Naruto pumped his fist into the air, "Hells yes! I'm fucking stoked!"

"Hey guys!" Sakura called as she came out through the double doors. "Hi, Gaara."

"Hello." The ginger replied solemnly. "How have you been? We don't talk much anymore."

"I've been alright, thanks. And yourself?"

"Same old, same old." He replied with a shrug.

"Ah." She nodded, "Hey, that's cool though. I've got to get going guys. I'll see you two tonight at seven, okay?"

The boys nodded and Sakura started for home.

She danced into the kitchen, excited about the night ahead and hugged Shizune, "What's up, sis?"

"I'm making dinner what does it look like?" She asked. "How was school?"

"It was okay."

Shizune nodded, "That's good. So what are you wearing tonight?"

"Sasuke is going to come over before Mr. Hatake picks us up, so I don't know until then." She told her, "I'll be upstairs."

"Offline at six-thirty!"

Sakura pulled her laptop from its charger and opened it to write a quick entry.

_Mr. Hatake is taking the boys and me to Scream Tunnel and I'm so psyched! This is the most excited I've been in a long time. Im practically dancing with joy._

_I wonder if it's even that scary?_

She turned her radio on and danced around her room after stripping from her pants and t-shirt, leaving her in a black tank-top and dark purple lacy-panties. She was in a surprisingly good mood, and at this rate, nothing could bring her from her high.

She rocked out to her music, bobbing her head and singing into her hair brush.

"I don't think that that would be a good outfit for tonight. For one, you are showing way too much ass."

Sakura turned to Sasuke who stood in her doorway, "Hi-ya Sasuke-kun."

He smiled at her, "Hey. You sure are in a good mood," He commented as he made his way to her closet, "What's the occasion?"

"Scream Tunnel. Tell me you aren't psyched about it." She crossed her arms over her chest, "What are you picking out for me?"

"Well, I figured we should color coordinate." He told her pulled clothes from their hangers. "Naruto will be wearing those black skinny jeans you got him for his birthday earlier this year, that black and white striped shirt of mine and the white hoodie you gave him."

Sakura looked over Sasuke's outfit. He was wearing his favorite pair of white loose-fitting skinny jeans, and a black t-shirt.

She rolled her eyes, "Black and white, huh?"

"It's the only thing that actually looks good on all of us." He said to her matter-of-factly. "Hmm," He tossed her a black pleated skirt, "What about that?"

"Too cold out for a skirt, Sasuke."

He nodded, "Yeah, you're right. How about these?" He held up a pair of black slacks.

"Those are fine," he held her hand out and caught the pants as he tossed them. She slipped into them and glared at him as he started attacking her tops.

He pulled a white top with a black attached vest and held it out, "How about this? I don't think I've ever seen it before."

"Shizune got it for me the other day." He took it and pulled it on over her tank top. "How's it looking?"

"Looking hot." He said with a grin. "Mr. Hatake is going to be all over you."

"You just know what to say to make a girl feel good don't you?" She said snidely as he laughed, tossing himself onto her bed.

He rolled over and looked up at her, "Hey, you were the one getting cozy with teacher, not me. Speaking of which, do you know what he's wearing tonight?"

.xxx.

Sakura pinned Sasuke's arm behind his back and kept him pinned to the ground as Naruto answered the door.

"Say it!" Sakura laughed.

"Never!" Sasuke struggled from underneath her, "I will never say it!" he tried to pull his arm free from underneath him, and his other from Sakura's grip but it was to no avail. "You crazy bitch! Let me up!"

"Then say it!" She hissed in his ear trying to contain her laughing.

"What's going on in here?" A new voice interrupted.

"Mr. Hatake!" Sasuke yelled, "Tell her to get off of me!"

"Why is she on you in the first place?" Kakashi asked amused by the situation. He sat on the couch and watched as the two before him wrestled against eachother. Naruto sat next to him and propped his feet up on the coffee table.

Naruto looked to his chem. teacher, "Sasuke won't admit that the female race is superior."

"Did you admit it?" He asked.

"Hell yes."

"But they aren't!" Sasuke cried as Sakura sank her teeth into his forearm, "You crazy bitch!" He pulled his arm free only to be flipped on his back, his arms pinned above his head. "Fuck!" He hissed at her.

Kakashi laughed out loud along with Naruto. A thought crossed his mind, wondering if maybe she was the wild in bed. It was very wrong, he knew, but he couldn't help it, something like that was bound to cross his mind the way she had that heart shaped ass propped up in the air as she tried to force Sasuke to admit that she was better than he.

"You guys ready to go?"

"Tell him to admit it." Sakura asked in the sweetest voice she could muster. "Please?"

"Come on, you two. No race is superior. There wouldn't be a race without both genders, so that solves your issue. We don't want to be late now, do we?"

"Nope!" They jumped from the floor and raced to his car, pushing past Genma and Shizune.

Shizune patted Kakashi on the back, "Are you sure you can handle them for so long?"

"I handle them everyday; I think I can manage it now."

"Then have a good night. See you guys when you get back."

"Bye."

**~xxx~**

I'm so sorry for this being so late. I had some major computer malfunctions, but they're fixed now, so I'll see if I can get back on schedule.

~regas


	7. Chapter 7

**A Different Kind of Hero**

_A/N: I finally got it up xp – I went and checked how long it had been since my last update and Holy Shit! I really was slacking off…sorry about the long delay –my lazy ass got distracted- and this chapter is really short, my apologies for that, but the next one should be twice as long._

_-and I brought back an old friend from Trippin'- my diehard trippin fans can probably guess who X3_

- a _**thank you! **_To _Jinxing the World_ for her fan-art for this story – It's beautiful Jinx!

~ I'll get a link as soon as I can~

**~xxx~**

**Chapter 7**

**~xxx~**

Naruto smiled cockily and he turned his head to the man sitting in the seat diagonal to his.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"..No."

"Are we there yet?"

"…No."

"Are we there yet?"

"Nope."

"Are we there yet?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"For god's sake will you shut up?" Sasuke hissed angrily punching his friend in the arm. "Why the hell do you think we'd be there seconds after you asked the first time? And you Mr. Hatake feel the need to let him go on? I am never having kids."

"Are you saying I'm a kid?" Kakashi asked with a hint of amusement.

"No, yes, just…you act like one!" Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest with an angry huff.

Sakura looked to the back seat and giggled, "I'm waiting for your angry wrist-flick."

"That is so stereo-typical," Sasuke said, flicking his wrist sub-consciously. "Awe, fuck…"

She smiled at him, "That made my night."

Naruto picked his head up from his hand, "Are we there yet?"

Kakashi laughed out loud, "It's a forty-five minute drive, Naruto, and we just left."

"Ugh!"

The older man shook his head and looked to Sakura, "So, um, what's with the black and white?"

Sakura smiled this time, "We're color coordinating."

"Uh-huh…" Kakashi nodded slowly, "Lovely. So, am I going to have to carry you scaredy cats out of this place?"

"We'll be carrying you," Naruto said boldly. "Cause we aint scared of nothing."

"Terrible grammar, what would your grandmother do if she heard that kind of language from you?" Kakashi asked with a loud 'tsk-tsk'.

Sasuke giggled and Sakura fought back her snort of amusement as Naruto grumbled something about his damned old lady needing to get off his back. As far as he was concerned he could talk how ever the hell he wanted. As if the head quarterback to the Konoha High football team needed proper English to play ball.

Sakura scratched at the back of her neck, "So…um…" She stuttered trying to break the silence that followed Naruto's mumbling.

Kakashi began tapping his hands on the steering wheel, humming lightly to himself. Sasuke perked up, "I love that so song; you have no idea."

"Yeah? Good band, ne?" Kakashi smiled as he continued tapping out the beat.

"Gokage Summit is the shit." Sakura said as she held her hand out to Sasuke, who met it with his own high-five.

Kakashi reached over and ruffled his student's hair, "Vulgar lyrics though, how old are you guys, ten, eleven?"

Naruto scowled, "Try seventeen and eighteen."

"Oh, well then, could you reach under your seat Sakura and put in that CD?"

Sakura stretched her arm between her legs and pulled the hard plastic case from underneath her seat, her eyes widening in surprise, "How did you get this? It doesn't come out for another six months!"

Sasuke leaned forward to see what Sakura was fanning over, "That's got their new song, Obliterate, on it right?"

Kakashi nodded, "Mmhmm, good song."

Sasuke started humming the song with Mr. Hatake as Naruto and Sakura shook their heads.

"Obliterate my feelings, obliterate my heart, I'll forget that you left me, you simply played the part, of a pawn, in my nighttime fantasy…" Sasuke sang out of tune as Kakashi continued strumming the heavy beat of the song before joining in.

"You're my imaginary friend, wont you be surprised when you realize that the nightmares never been, obliterate my senses, my make believe lover never takes chances…"

Naruto put his hand over his ears, "I'm glad neither of you went nor are going to school for singing."

Sasuke scoffed and Kakashi laughed aloud as he turned down the next street, "Alright, Naruto, what do you want to listen to?"

The blonde thought about it for a moment, "Why don't we just talk?"

"Okay."

Sasuke blushed, "Someone asked me to Semi-formal…"

Sakura and Naruto both turned, both swatting their friend playfully, "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

Sakura smiled happily, at her friend, her gaze briefly meeting Kakashi's dark, lusty one. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to hug him, and lay in his arms. She looked back to Sasuke, "Well, who is he?"

Sasuke rubbed at his neck, "Gaara."

"Oh, no way!" Naruto yelled happily as he punched the young Uchiha in the arm. "You two are going to be so…er…cute together!"

"That's great." Sakura said with a crooked grin, "I wondered how long it was going to be until you guys hooked up."

Kakashi looked in the review mirror; addressing all of the teenagers in his car, "I didn't know he was gay?"

Sakura turned to Kakashi, "Mmhmm, well actually he's bi-sexual but yup, he likes boys. He's actually the one who coaxed Sasuke out of the closet. Gaara's gay-dar is never wrong."

"You always seemed so out with it." Kakashi murmured as he turned again, dimming his lights as they met on-coming traffic. "Why doesn't Kiba harass Gaara?"

The trio let out a laugh before Naruto answered his chemistry teacher, "Are you kidding? No one is stupid enough to go at Gaara, one, his family has _a lot _of money, two, his siblings are scary as hell, and three, he's bad-ass."

"Well that's fucking ridiculous."

"Whoa." Naruto hissed, "You said the f-word."

"Outside of school, I say a lot of things I wouldn't usually say in front of my students."

"We know…" Sasuke muttered to himself with a laugh, just loud enough that only Naruto heard.

~xxx~

Kakashi tapped his foot in irritation as they waited in the pre-sale line to get into the maze. At fifty dollars a ticket, he was beginning to think that the people running Scream Tunnel knew something he didn't. If his estimation was right, these people were raking in more money in one night, than he did in a year.

"I'm cold." Sakura complained as she stepped closer to Kakashi and Sasuke.

Sasuke smiled weakly, "Me too. Tell ya' what Mr. H, if we aren't in this thing in the next twenty minutes us three will buy dinner and we'll go eat out."

"Sounds like a plan." He laughed as the line started moving forward.

"I hate waiting!" Naruto cried as he stomped his foot and huffed angrily.

"The line is moving, dobe," Sasuke snapped, "Suck it up."

Shortly after, they entered the maze.

"Wow," Sasuke gasped sarcastically, "This is sooo scary!"

Kakashi giggled to himself, earning him some questioning looks before the lights around them went out. That was more like it, he thought.

A loud voice came over them from speakers above, "Welcome to scream tunnel, on behalf of our sponsors, we'd like to say thank you for letting us scare you this night."

Sakura tried to move about in the dark, "Guys?"

"I'm right here." Naruto said, "Why is it so dark in here?"

"That's the point," Kakashi informed them, "The lights go out, and its up to the rest of your senses to keep you going."

The voice came over the speakers again, "We like to inform you of safety procedures before you enter the tunnel. The glow sticks you received are only to be cracked in the case of an emergency or if you can't handle the fear that awaits you. Should something happen, our personnel will be more than obliged to assist you. You may begin."

Strobe lights started flashing around them, and Sasuke let out a loud laugh as he grabbed Sakura by the hand, "This is awesome. Come on Mr. H, Naruto!"

They moved forward in the tunnel, jumping every now and then as people jumped out at them or grabbed their ankles.

Naruto elbowed Kakashi, "This place is pretty jank. How much did you pay for the tickets? It's not even scary."

"No, I guess not. Too bad." He smiled deviously. "Why don't you guys finish without me, I'm not feeling so hot."

"Scared, huh?"

"That must be it."

"See ya' back at the car then."

Sakura and Sasuke turned around to Naruto, "Where's he going?"

"He doesn't feel well. I think he got scared."

Sakura shook her head, "Maybe he just doesn't like the flashing lights. He gets headaches pretty easily."

"You would know."

She huffed angrily and continued on through the dark maze, dragging Sasuke with her. Why wouldn't Kakashi finish the maze with them? She wondered. He'd been just as excited about it.

She gasped. Oh hell no. She turned on her heel and bumped against Sasuke, "He's not sick! He's gonna try and scare us!"

Sasuke shook his head, "I don't think so, that doesn't seem like him."

"Oh trust me, it's just like him." She crossed her arms over her chest angrily, "That bastard."

"You're jumping to conclusions, Sakura."

"So?"

"I don't think he's going to try and scare the shit out of us."

She shook her head, "fine, but when he has to carry you out crying I won't mind saying I told you so."

That sneaky, conniving bastard! That son of a bitch, she thought, well he wasn't going to one-up them this time, she wasn't going to allow it. She was not going to let him get the best of her or the boys…or at least, she was going to try to not let him get them.

With a new awareness, she silently followed her friends through the rest of the tunnel and when they exited, Sasuke turned to Sakura and smiled, "I told you so."

She rolled her eyes and pulled her coat around her tighter as they walked to kakashi's jeep; she looked in the windows, "He's not here."

Naruto scratched the side of his head with a squinty look, "Where do you think he is?"

"Maybe getting us coffee?" Sasuke growled between his teeth. "This is just fucking great. I'm cold, Scream Tunnel sucked and now, Mr. Hatake is MIA. What the fuck." He whined.

Naruto pressed his back against the car, "We'll just have to wait for him."

Sasuke's scowl deepened further as he sat on the black-top, mumbling to himself curses even Sakura found appalling. He sure did hate being cold, she laughed to herself as she took a seat beside him.

"So did either of you finish that essay for History?"

"Nope." -"Pfft, no."

"You?" Naruto looked down at her.

"No." She sighed and pulled her knees to her chest. "How long to you think he's going to be?"

"I dunno."

"Boo!"

Sasuke and Sakura leapt from the ground screaming. Naruto was already on top of Kakashi's jeep as said man pulled himself from beneath his car. "Scared you guys."

"You fucker!" Sasuke hissed, his arms wrapped around his torso.

Sakura turned to Sasuke and punched him in the arm, "I told you!"

"Happy Halloween, guys." He laughed as he unlocked his car with a button on his keys. "Come on, I'll get you that coffee you want Sasuke."

"Better be the best fucking coffee ever."

~xxx~

Sakura lay sprawled out on her bed, painting her nails a dark crimson red, her music blaring loudly as she brushed over her thumb nail before blowing on it gently.

She picked her head up when her computer beeped. She opened her messenger and smiled as Kakashi's name appeared along with his message.

_**Whatcha' up to?**_

She laughed before closing her nail polish to answer him back.

_Painting my nails. Hbu?_

_**Sitting in your kitchen.**_

She sat up and looked around nervously.

_Doors locked. You can't get it without a key._

_**Haha. Your nails are red, right?**_

_Fucking creep._

She hit send, and moved from her bed to her door to glance downstairs. Every light was on. Slowly, she moved down the stairs and into the kitchen where, sure enough, Kakashi sat with Shizune, Genma, Iruka and Asuma.

She propped her hands on her hips, "You guys could tell me when you have people over, or that you're going to get home early."

'Well hello miss bossy-pants." Genma smiled, "Our reservation got canceled to we ordered take out and came back here."

Sakura nodded. "Okay, I just thought someone was creeping in our house." Her eyes briefly met Kakashi's darker ones and a slight smirk pulled at her lips at his out-right grin. "While you're here, _Mr. Hatake_, do you think you could help me with my chemistry homework real quick?"

He stood up, "Sure."

He followed her up the stairs silently, grinning when no one even questioned his going to her room. They just weren't as sharp as they used to be.

She turned after he closed the door, her hands on her hips again, "You're a fucking creeper."

"Yes I know, you've told me that quite a few times since the 29th. So what did you really want?"

She reached out and tugged at his hand, pulling him close to her. "I don't know, a kiss maybe?"

"Just a kiss?"

"For now…" She whispered as his lips moved against hers, with an underlying passion she knew he wasn't ready to act on quite yet.

She tugged on his bandana, "I'm satisfied. You can leave now."

A long silver brow rose at her statement. "Who died and made you queen?"

"Dictator, who died and made me dictator? You've got to say it right."

"What?"

"Never mind. Inside joke."

He nodded with a roll of his eyes, "Uh-huh, okay then." He sat on her bed and rubbed his face with a yawn. "What time is it?"

She turned her head to her clock, "A little after one-thirty. Past your bedtime?"

She had to giggle at the thought of Kakashi having a set bedtime. She imagined him crawling into his bed with bunny slippers and a flannel nightgown and a nightcap to resemble Naruto's.

"A lot after my bedtime, I have to be at the courthouse by seven-thirty." He told her between yawns. "Legal issues…something about my brother trashing his car again."

"You have a brother?"

"Mmhmm…Kesuki, he's a dick."

"How old is he?"

"Uh…twenty-….-four-five-ish?"

"You don't know?" She giggled, sitting on the bed next to him.

He shrugged, "I don't talk to him much, and I could care less to remember. He's just cocky and we don't get along."

"Then why help him if it's his car he smashed?"

"Because he's my little brother. I'm always going to love him."

The look he gave her had Sakura nearly shuddering, it was so serious and heartfelt she didn't know what to say. She didn't know if she could look away from him, it almost hurt. She'd never been the empathetic kind, but she could almost feel the love Kakashi had for his brother and it had a weak grin spreading across her face.


	8. Chapter 8

**A Different Kind of Hero**

A/N: Okay, okay! Here it is, chapter 8 *holds up hands defensively* I fucking love you guys and your nudges here and there, they get my lazy ass moving!

~limey-lime goodness

**~xxx~**

**Chapter 8**

**~xxx~**

"Therefore," Genma rambled on as Sakura typed his words, "The first hokage…" He stopped and looked at her, "Did I just actually just do your history essay for you?"

"What gave it away?" she asked with a giggled as he pressed his palm to his face, "Was it me typing your spiel for the last thirty minutes?"

He sighed and took the seat next to her, resting his forehead against the granite counter. "And for a moment I thought you were honestly interested in the First Hokage's construction of the Hokage Manor."

"I'm eighteen; the only thing on my mind is passing high school and sex."

"Oh, hell I'm thirty-three and my thoughts are still passing high school and sex, just not necessarily in that order."

Sakura laughed and patted her sisters lover on the back, "It's okay G, you'll get over it one day."

"With my best friend being Kakashi Hatake? Fat chance. He reads smut in public, a constant reminder, and the guy is a fucking sex fiend."

"What?"

"Well at least he used to be. I don't know anymore, but Kakashi could get any woman way back when, anytime he wanted. You know."

"No, I don't know." Well wasn't this a pleasant surprise? She thought angrily. He'd failed to mention that little tid-bit of information to her and she wasn't pleased.

Genma nodded, "I think he got a couple guys way back when too. I'm not really sure what team he's batting for now, but…you probably don't care for this story, do you?"

Sakura shook her head quickly, "No, no go on. It's intriguing." She certainly hoped he was batting for the opposite gender, if not; he certainly needed to get his glasses checked because she was certainly female.

"Nah, he probably doesn't want me boasting about his life. I'll talk to you later, Pinky; I'm gonna go take a nap. Get me up when Kakashi gets here, we're going bowling tonight."

"Bowling?" She asked skeptically. "Who goes bowling anymore?"

"Kakashi and I do. Shizune is probably gonna go too, and maybe Asuma."

With a roll of her eyes, Sakura got up from her chair at the counter and went into the living to watch T.V. She sat on the couch and started surfing through the channels.

"Soap Opera, Soap Opera, Reality TV, Sports Channel, Spelling-Bee…" She sighed and continued her hunt for something decent to watch. "Porno –blocked, Jeopardy!"

She sat forward as the host started asking questions on the show. "_What is this disease named after – The disease is Leukemia."_

"What are leukocytes?" Sakura answered quickly.

"_Nobody? The correct answer is, what are leukocytes." _

Sakura pumped her fist in the air with a grin.

"Easy question."

She turned and looked over the back of the couch as Kakashi stepped in from the snow, shivering. "Oh, hey. I didn't even hear you come in."

"I just caught the answer, but I assume it was an easy question." He told her with a wicked grin. "Did that just start?"

"Mmhmm, do you want me to go wake Genma up?"

"No, we aren't leaving until later so let him sleep." He shrugged out of his jacket and hung it over the stair railing. "What is onomatopoeia?"

She turned. Damn it, she'd missed that question. She crossed her arms over her chest with a pout as Kakashi walked around and took a seat next to her in front of the large T.V. – she stuck her bottom lip out when the answer was infact onomatopoeia.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and smiled as he stretched out, propping his mismatched-sock covered feet up on the coffee table.

"_Who was responsible for drawing up the blue-prints of the Hokage Manor in Konoha, Land of Fire?"_

Sakura smiled when Kakashi didn't answer. He just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know! She thought.

"Who is the First Hokage?"

Kakashi turned to her, "The Hokage drew up the plans?"

"Mmhmm, I just did my History essay on him. He was an adept architect before he was voted to Hokage. Speaking of which, I learned a little history about you that I wanted to talk about."

"Shoot."

"What team are you playing for?"

His brow creased, "What?"

"You're into women, right?"

"Well, yeah. What history were you learning about?"

She shrugged and looked away from his eyes, "I just, you know, you could get anyone you wanted, whenever you wanted, way back when."

"Way back when. I'm not like that anymore." He ruffled her hair, "Why, jealous?"

"A little." She admitted.

"The only female attention I get is from you, the only male attention I get is my-"He started laughing, "I'm not going to finish that."

"Your hand?"

"Yeah."

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his momentarily. "Are you busy Wednesday?"

"After school? No."

"Genma and Shizune have to go to Mist for some legality with him canceling his lease on his old apartment and there's been some burglaries on streets around here…I just kind of don't want to be alone. Would you mind coming over?"

"I don't mind…" He kissed her again, this time deeper than the first.

She took his hand and with a quiet "come on", and was pulling him up the stairs to her room. He made no protests as they entered the large room, closing the door behind them quietly. He sighed with content as she led him to her bed.

She knew exactly what she was doing, he mused as she tugged at his bandanna playfully, pulling him over her on the bed. His lips clashed with hers fervently, his tongue bumping against hers as her fingers tangled in his hair.

Sakura pushed Kakashi back to a kneeling position as she sat up and whipped her band t-shirt over her head.

It was wrong. He knew it was so wrong. So very wrong, but he could bring himself to care as he pushed her back to the bed, his lips moving from her lips to her throat where he kissed from her ear to her collarbone and back.

She sighed as Kakashi nuzzled her neck, his free hand, the one not holding him up, moved at her hip; it traipsed up her side and back down.

"Fuck!" She pushed Kakashi off of her and her bed.

"What?" He stared at her, confused.

"Shizune just got home." She moved from her bed and pulled her shirt back over her head. She straightened it out and fixed her mussed hair. "She'd slit your throat and gut me if she knew."

"But it's okay when Genma is in the next room?"

"He's a little more lenient when it comes to me."

* * *

><p>"So you'll pick your topic and either make a quality poster or you'll write at least a three page essay. It's pretty simple." Kakashi told the class as he finished the lesson. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Have your topics chosen."<p>

Sakura turned around to Naruto, "Which one do you want to do?"

"Um, I think I'm going to do a poster in irradiated food. Do you think they irradiate ramen?"

"Speaking of ramen, Itachi wants to know if you guys want to go to dinner with us tonight at Ichiraku's. His treat." Sasuke butted-in, "And," He leaned in closer and spoke at a whisper, "Trying to hide that hickey behind a turtle neck, with a hoodie on? You're just making it more noticeable."

Sakura's hand went to her neck, "Is it that bad?"

Naruto nodded, "Kinda. I mean, only when your hand goes to cover it like that. You make it pretty obvious that you're hiding something. On the topic, what did you guys do?"

"Nothing like what you're thinking."

"So he doesn't have any incriminating hickeys hidden from our sight?"

"No!" She whispered harshly.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "He's a grown man, one of you is going to have to put out sooner or later, or it's not going to go anywhere and you're going to split up."

"Thank you Dr. Uchiha, is that all?"

"Just...blow him that should hold him over until you're ready to fuck him." Sasuke held his hand out and looked at his nails, "We'll talk about this more in lunch." He said as the bell for fourth period rang.

Fourth period for Sakura couldn't come fast enough. Health dragged by. Learning about peristalsis could only be so much fun.

When the bell for lunch rang, Sakura was the first person out of the health room, her mind racing. She was thankful she'd brought her own lunch today as she met Sasuke and Naruto at their usual table.

Sasuke looked up from his dango with a grin, and Naruto from his ramen. "So have you been thinking about it?"

"About what?" She asked nervously.

"Giving _Kakashi-san_ a little head?" Naruto giggled as he slurped his noodles. "I think he'd be into that."

"Shut up! You guys are assholes, you know that?"

"Yeah we know. Anyways, what'd you do your History essay on?" Sasuke asked wiping his hands together, "I did mine on the economical crisis the Second went through."

"I did mine on the construction of Hokage Manor during the first Hokage's reign. Naruto?"

"I wrote about the Fourth's reign."

"What is your fixation with him?" Sasuke asked dully, "It's always the Fourth this, and the Fourth that."

The blonde shrugged. "I dunno. He just…It's like I know him, ya' know?"

Both friends shook their heads. They didn't know.

"Meh, I want to go home and sleep." Sakura rested her forehead against the hard tabletop. "Kiba caught up with me earlier today."

"What'd he do?" – "Do I get to kill him?" Both boys perked up at the mention of their sworn enemy.

Her gaze seemed puzzled but straightened itself out quickly, "He apologized to me."

"He WHAT!" They yelled at her. Every head in the cafeteria turned to look at them.

"Could you guys be any fucking louder?" She hissed as people started going back to their lunches.

"He apologized to you? What the hell is up with that?" Sasuke groaned, "You can't be serious."

"I am! I swear." She told them. "He just started talking to me and I didn't know what to do."

"What did you say to him?"

"That it was okay." She hadn't known what else to tell him.

Naruto rubbed his chin, "I'm scared now. That's not like him, what do you think he's planning?"

Sakura shrugged, "I have no idea."

* * *

><p>"Welcome to Ichiraku!"<p>

Sakura sighed and hung her head as Naruto let out a cheer, telling the young hostess that he'd have his usual. She was friends with the weirdest people, she thought, and Sasuke's older brother was no different.

Itachi was a nice man; she liked him well enough and she loved when she got to spend the night at his house with Sasuke. His tastes were similar to that of hers and his brother's, but what really won her over was his favorite book- like she'd told Sasuke time and time again- nothing could beat Frankenstein.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head, "Perhaps you and I should just go eat somewhere else, and leave Itachi and Naruto to their ramen."

"Mmm, Itachi would rather eat his dango than eat Naruto's ramen." Sakura patted her gay friend on the back, "You'd rather eat cock."

"You'd rather eat our teacher."

"Touché."

"Speaking of which…have do decided to give him a little or not?" Sasuke asked her as they sat in the booth they were led to.

She rolled her eyes with a smile, "I'm already two days ahead of you, Sasuke-kun. I've been planning on Wednesday for a while."

"What are you going to do?"

She shook her head, "That's a secret."

"Are you going to hand him off?"

She just shook her head again and picked up her menu. Itachi looked up from his order with a confused look on his face.

"Who is Sakura handing off? That's unsanitary, dear. Tell me you've been washing your hands."

"No one and I haven't been doing that, Itachi-san." She said with a laugh.

"But you're planning on it?" He pushed, concerned for her health.

She nodded, "Yeah. Relax, Weasel, I'm not a little girl. Eighteen, remember?"

He sighed and rested his chin in his hand with a thoughtful look on his face, "My dear is growing up. I'm sad now." He gave her a smile, "If you need anything but don't want to go to Shizune or Genma, you can come to me you know. I won't tell anyone. At least let me in on who he is."

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura exchanged devious looks of humor. "Do you know the new chemistry teacher?"

"Kakashi Hatake? Yeah, I went to school with his brother, Kesuki. Don't tell me you're dating Kesuki." He deadpanned, "That kid doesn't have all his lights on upstairs. Kid's a fucking idiot. Makes Naruto look like he's the smartest person I know."

Naruto whined, "Hey, that's not fair Itachi!"

Sasuke slapped Naruto on the back of the head, "Quit your bitching."

"No, no, not his brother." Sakura answered with a slight smile.

"Cousin?"

"No, you're getting cold."

"Does he have another brother?"

"No, but you're warm."

Itachi tapped his chin. "Kakashi, himself?"

"Mmhmm."

"No shit! You're banging your teacher?" He laughed, "Really? That's sexy!"

She nodded, along with Sasuke and Naruto. "I really like him. He's pretty cool, and he's always with me outside of school, because he and Genma are close."

"Does your sister know?"

"No! And you can't tell her! She doesn't need to…take him away from me. He makes me really happy, ya' know."

Itachi waved his hands defensively, "I wouldn't dream of it dear! I'm not that cruel. So what are you planning on doing with Mr. Hatake?"

"Just…you know. Adult stuffs."

Sasuke slammed his forehead against the table as he laughed, "Wow, Bro, cool it; you sound like I do!" He looked up, "Flaming Homosexual, that title belongs to me."

Itachi rolled his eyes, "You aren't flaming."

"Yes he is!"-"The hell he's not!" Both Sakura and Naruto cut in with their own giggles.

"You two are cruel; he's your best friend."

Sasuke shook his head and leaned closer to Sakura, "And I'm a flaming homosexual."

"I don't think he understands what that means exactly." She laughed as Ayame brought them their ramen bowls.

Sasuke sighed, "Well, look at it this way; at least he hasn't sprayed me with the fire extinguisher, unlike Uncle Madara."

* * *

><p>Sakura sighed as she watched Genma and Shizune put on their coats and scarves as they got ready to leave. Kakashi still wasn't here yet, but he didn't like driving while it was snowing out, she thought. She'd give him the benefit of the doubt.<p>

Shizune checked her bag before looking up at Sakura, "We should be back before midnight."

"Okay." She shrugged and turned back to her computer, "See you guys later." She clicked her music program and scrolled through the contents quickly. She was in the mood for Versailles at the moment. They were just kind of awesome. Maybe some Evanescence…

Shizune zipped her jacket, "Love you, see you when we get back."

"Love you too." She waved before turning back to her computer.

_I am a devious woman! _

That was the only thing she typed before signing out of her writings. She was hungry, she decided as she stood and meandered to the fridge. She pulled the door open, but only stared at its contents hoping that the item she wanted would scream out at her because she didn't know what she wanted to eat.

"Speak to me." She begged the food.

"Talking to food now, Sakura?"

She turned quickly, "Kakashi!"

"Yes, I am." She smiled cleverly as she closed the fridge door and walked back to the island. "Sit down."

"Huh?" He scratched at his chin, "Nah, I'm good right now."

"No," She strutted towards him and spun him around. "Sit. There," She pointed to the chair behind him.

He coked his head, "And if I say no?"

She grinned again, "You don't have a choice." She pushed against his chest and pushed him down in the chair. "Let me take care of you."

His brow lifted, "Excuse me?" This was a wet dream, he told himself, this was a dream and he didn't want to wake up from it.

"I said; let me take care of you." She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Let me entertain you…"

This was the nicest dream he'd ever had. "What if Shizune and Genma come back for something?" He asked nervously as her hands braced against his thighs and her tongue moved against the shell of his ear.

"Then we'll have some explaining to do, but they won't come back."

His hands settled on her hips and pulled her closer as her lips moved to his neck. "How can you be so certain?"

"Just stop thinking about it, okay? Just focus on this." She planted a firm kiss against his jaw, trailing to his lips. "It's just you and me for a few hours."

He sighed as she kissed him, moving her lips against his. He let his hands slip under her shirt, rubbing at her bare hips as she deepened the kiss her tongue sliding against his. When she pulled back he smiled, "Just us for a few hours, huh?"

"Uh-huh." Her hands slid to the waist band of his pants, teasing him.

He closed his eyes and nuzzled the crook of her neck, "Mmm…"

"Do you want to do this?" She asked, whispering in his ear.

She didn't want to take it too far with him if he didn't want to do anything like this with her yet. Kakashi was gentleman, and if he wasn't ready then neither was she. Sakura didn't want to put strain on a good thing because of her raging hormones and her best friends pushing her to do it.

"Do you?" His whispered back.

She thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I do."

"Well then what's stopping us?" He smiled kissing her neck. He moved his hands to hold hers and helped her unbutton his pants and slide the zipper down before pushing them up her arms and into her hair. He pulled her into a deep kiss as her hands pulled his growing erection free from his pants.

She smiled against the kiss, her hands stroking his cock slowly up and down. He shuddered as a groan left his lips when she lightly ran her nails along the underneath of his shaft. She was doing a good job at getting him hot and bothered.

His hips jerked when Sakura squeezed his base lightly, her hands slowly sliding back up towards his mushroomed head.

She kissed the spot right below his ear, scraping her teeth over it every so often. It earned her another jerk and a husky grunt. Sakura leisurely went to her knees her dark green eyes meeting Kakashi's lusty ash blue ones. She smirked as she brought the tip of his throbbing erection to her lips, her tongue sliding over the moist slit.

"Shit…Sakura that feels good…" He managed, his hips rising to her lips as she teased him, swirling her tongue around him. "Fuck, baby…" He groaned, his fingers tightening in her hair as she took him into her mouth.

Sakura hummed as he pulled her hair as she took him deep in her throat, nearly fitting all of his hard length in her mouth. His hips jerked upward fiercely when she hummed against him, another grunt leaving his lips.

She ran her tongue on the underside of his penis, earning another groan from her lover. She sucked at him, her head bobbing with each thrust of his hips into her mouth.

Kakashi pulled her hair, pushing her head down against him, "Hell, baby, I'm gonna…" He struggled to say between grunts and groans as she sucked his cock. "Unghh…" he groaned as he tensed his hips thrusting almost violently against her lips.

Sakura moaned lightly when she felt Kakashi stiffen beneath her hands, his hips thrusting up with every hot pulse in her mouth. Her eyes met his half-lidded ones when he gave one final jerk. He was panting, trying to catching his breath as she swallowed all of his seed.

Her cheeks were flushed her hair was mussed and Kakashi swore he'd never seen a sexier woman in his life, "Fuck…" He panted, "You're so goddamned beautiful…"

She smiled crookedly at him. He leaned forward and she rose to meet his lips with her own.

**~xxx~ **

**A/N: **Yay, lime!

- I don't think it was my best stuff, of course that was my first…scene like that so, I think I did a decent job with it. I didn't really want to go into too many details for this scene; what'd ya' think guys?


	9. Chapter 9

**A Different Kind of Hero**

**~xxx~**

**Chapter 9**

**~xxx~**

Sakura sat up late and looked at her clock with a groan. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably.

_**12:34 am** _

She got up from her bed and went downstairs to search through her fridge for something to eat; preferably something greasy. Sakura wasn't surprised to find Genma sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of water in hand and a ham sandwich as he flipped through his latest sports magazine.

"When did you guys get back?" She asked as she opened the door and looked through the food.

Genma shrugged, "Maybe an hour ago. Sakura?"

"Mmhmm?" She answered as she grabbed an apple, settling with something healthy instead. "What's up?"

"I don't want you to do…_stuff_… in this kitchen, do you understand?"

Sakura raised a slender feminine brow at him, "What do you mean that kind of stuff?"

There was no way in hell he could know about what she and Kakashi had done, could he? Kakashi didn't tell him, did he? She could feel her face go red. Shit.

"You know what kind of stuff I'm talking about," He glanced in her direction. "In your bedroom is one thing, where we eat is another."

"Um…what the hell are you rambling about? Are you drunk?" She asked, trying to deny that anything had happened in the kitchen.

He looked at her, turning his head with a smile, "I'm no idiot, Sakura. Don't think I didn't hear you two Sunday running up the stairs. You weren't being as quiet as you think you were, _though_, I'll give you points for hiding it from your sister. I thought she'd be the first one to know."

"Oh fuck…" Busted.

"Not in this kitchen."

"We didn't have sex." She hung her head in defeat. "I swear."

He shook his head, "I don't care if you guys do the nasty just don't do it in the kitchen."

"How did you know we did something in the kitchen, though?"

"_You_ just said something happened."

"Oh my big fucking mouth. Oh shit." She rested her forehead against the granite island tabletop. "Don't tell Shizune, please, please, don't tell her."

Genma got up and gave her a light pat on the back, "I won't. I'm not that cruel." He laughed, "As a hint Kakashi's got this thing for talking dirty…"

"Why would you say that?"

"Well if he's getting some, it might as well be good some, right?"

"You're an asshole, Genma Shiranui… Any particular words?"

He laughed heartily and ruffled her hair, "There's the Sakura-chan I know."

* * *

><p>Sakura picked her head up from her notebook when Kakashi started handing back tests and labs from the week before. She sighed and handed Sasuke back his tests, his grades a lot higher than hers.<p>

"Why the hell am I so bad at chemistry?" She muttered to her papers.

Sasuke laughed lightly, "I told you something would trip you up."

"So it's your fault." She deadpanned.

Naruto shook his head, its okay Sakura; I'm doing worse than you are."

All heads picked up when Kakashi started the attendance, "Anyone seen Kiba lately? This is twice he's been absent. Is he sick?"

Choji Akamichi shrugged, "Someone said he was having a breakdown or something, but I think it's just a rumor."

Sakura perked up when the last bit was said. If he was having a breakdown, would he apologize to her? Now she was confused as all hell. She turned around and gave Sasuke 'the look'.

He nodded, and then pointed her back to the notes on the board.

Kakashi clapped his hands together, "Okay guys. We left off yesterday talking about how you write chemical formulas, correct?"

Some kids groaned while others gave soft 'yeahs'. No one liked this unit. Metals were confusing, charges were stupid and not everyone knew all of the elements.

Kakashi looked around the room as kids complained and he sighed. "I know this isn't fun for you guys but come on suck it up. I went to college for years for this stuff, so stop your whining, please?"

Gaara rolled his eyes, "Don't you like this stuff?"

Kakashi shrugged, "Well, yeah, most of the time."

"This is sooo stupid!"

"Just finish the notes."

"I have an Idea," Sasuke muttered, "Why don't we trash today's notes?"

Kakashi sat up on his desk. "You guys really hate this don't you?"

"Yeah"-"Yes!"-"Hell yeah."

"Okay, okay. Tell you what, if at least one of you can memorize the entire periodic table by Monday, you won't take the unit test. Deal?"

Kids murmured about themselves, and finally agreed. Sakura sighed and drew swirls on her lined paper, a low sinking feeling in her stomach. She knew she was falling again.

Sasuke smiled, "If I can recite the first…couple…can we skip today's notes?"

Kakashi laughed, "We'll see. It depends on your couple."

"Well," Sasuke started, "There's hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen…fluorine, neon."

Kakashi clapped, "I supposed we can skip today's notes…" His gaze went to Sakura as she stared down at her notebook with a blank look in her eyes, "You have the rest of the period to yourselves."

Kakashi knelt to his haunches, balanced on the balls of his feet and rested his chin on Sakura's desk. "You feel alright?"

Sakura nodded slowly, "Yeah, I just…" She gave a heavy sigh and closed her notebook, "Can I go to the nurse? I just wanna go home."

He was silent for a moment and rubbed his hands on his thighs, "Is Shizune home?"

"No, she's working a double, but I'm a big girl, I can handle myself."

"You don't look like you feel well."

She shrugged, "Please?"

He nodded, "Yeah." He gave a weak smiled and stood as she gathered her things and left the room. Sasuke met his gaze as he looked about the room and Kakashi's brow knit. All-knowing would be his words for describing it. He pursed his lips with thought.

Kakashi went to his desk and settled in his chair silently, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. He tapped the keyboard a few times, typing a quick message.

**To: Genma, Kesuki**

**I think Sakura is starting to have her issues again. We need to do something about it…-**

Kakashi set his phone on his desk and kicked his feel up by his computer as the bell rang and the kids filed from the room onto their next classes. He looked up when Genma knocked at his open door.

"What happened?"

"She just zoned during class. She looked sick and said she wanted to go home, so don't be surprised when Hiashi calls you to get her."

Genma nodded, "Okay. Hey, have you seen Kiba Inuzuka lately?"

Kakashi shook his head, "Nah. What about, what's her name from my eighth period class…Ino?"

Genma shook his head, "Nope. She'd been out for the week. I heard it was a pregnancy scare or something."

"Kids these days."

Genma nodded, "Can we talk, bro to bro?"

"Of course." Kakashi laced his fingers behind his head and tipped back in his chair casually. "What's up?"

Genma scratched at his temple for a moment, "How far do you plan on taking it with Sakura?"

"Eh?" Kakashi could feel the foot up his ass already, playing stupid was his best bet.

"You know what I mean. You and Sakura- getting giggidy?" Genma raised his eye-brows a few times suggestively.

Kakashi leaned forward on the desk and held his face against his palms, mumbling incoherently before answering Genma, "I don't know. However far as she wants, I suppose. Before you kick my ass, in all honesty it's semi-legal, besides me being her chemistry teacher."

"Go on…" Genma rolled his hand.

"She's eighteen and legal- I'm a lot older than eighteen. Everything that's happened has been completely consensual between us, I swear. We haven't had sex, and I haven't forced her into any kinky shit, or unwanted what-evers. We're taking it really slow."

"Dude, I'm not going to rip your balls off. I know Sakura is a big girl, I was messing with you. I think the relationship is good for her and for you. You make eachother happy." Genma sat in one of the desks in front of Kakashi's with a smile on his face, "Let's face it though, this is something we shouldn't tell Shizune."

"Oh fuck no."

"Just promise me you'll be gentle when you actually get there?"

"Huh?"

"When you have sex."

"Oh, I'm not her fir– you mean emotionally don't you?"

Genma nodded, "Yeah, I know you aren't her first. Trust me, the tension between her and Naruto was pretty near tangible. Poor Sasuke was stuck in the middle and didn't know what the hell was going on."

Kakashi sighed, "Does he know now?"

"Sasuke? Not that I know, she and Naruto kept it between them from what I know." Genma scratched at his head, "How did you find out?"

"She told me. We played twenty questions way back in October."

"Ahh."

"Yeah…I'm bringing Kesuki in on this."

Genma laughed aloud, "What, for serious?"

"Yeah. Sure, he's a fuck-up, but he knows what he's doing when it comes to stuff like this. He did graduate top of the class, so, he can relate as well."

Genma nodded again, "You know what maybe he will help. Kids got a good head on his shoulders."

"Yeah, but he's got dad's liver."

"I'm gonna go check on Sakura."

* * *

><p>Sakura lay out on her bed, hugging her pillow to her chest as she stared blankly at her door. She'd done this for the past three hours, unmoving. Even her trusty laptop had been kicked to the floor and kicked from her mind as she tried to sort through things going on in her head.<p>

She rolled over as the loud thump of someone bounding up the stairs by two's reached her ears. Same person now pounding on her door, she groaned. "Go away."

"Please, let me in Sakura-chan?"

She sat up slowly and looked at her door, she didn't recognize that voice. "Who're you?"

"Open the door and you'll see."

She cocked her head. That sounded like something a child predator would say. "Go away."

"Only if you let me in."

"Who the hell are you?"

She could hear him laughing, "Just open the door, sweetheart. You'll understand."

Curiosity getting the better of her, she slid from her bed and slowly walked to the door. She cracked it open reluctantly peeking out into the dark hallway. He pushed his way through and practically pranced into her room.

Sakura's brow raised, "Kakashi?"

He turned and smiled, "Nope!" He held his hand out, "I'm Kesuki, his little brother!"

Now that she looked him over, Sakura could see a few differences between the siblings besides the obviously different voices. Kesuki was shorter, his hair was –dare she say- neater, and his eyes were lighter and almost a sky blue color. That was some gene pool, she laughed, both of them were gorgeous.

"Uhh, hi."

"I've heard you've had some…issues." He smiled even happier and sat on her bed after picking up her computer. "Is Genma home?-Oh I hope he gets home soon, it's been so very long since I've seen him, ya' know? I saw Kakashi just yesterday at his apartment and then he was texting me earlier, but, you know, I'm sure you saw and talked to him earlier too. How's Shizune? Good I hope, though, last time she saw me she threatened me because I tried to woo Genma but that didn't work either, because he was a bit oblivious to my come-ons, is he still that dense? I hope he isn't, I mean it would be terrible if he were still-"

"Holy shit, dude." Sakura was nearly in shock. He'd talked so fast without breathing that she'd barely understood him as he slurred everything he said together. "Breathe, will you?"

"Sorry, I tend to do that when I get excited. I'm just so happy to finally meet you!" He jumped from her bed and wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground, "Kakashi talks about you all the time!"

When she was sure her feet were back on the floor she took a few steps back, "Did you forget to take your Ritalin today, or something?"

"Am I bothering you?"

"A little."

"Sucks for you. Anyhoo, I'm here to talk to you about your feelings."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me. Seriously." She pushed past him and crawled up on her bed, "Go away."

"Not until we talk about your feelings, sweetheart."

"You are one weird guy. I feel bad for Kakashi." He stuck his bottom lip out in a pout, and she bust out laughing. "Oh my god you look just like him!"

He rolled his eyes, "Gee, thanks sweetheart. "Oooooh," Kesuki went to her wall at her headboard and looked through the pictures, "Who's the dark-haired kid?"

"That's my best friend, Sasuke." Sakura looked through the pictures with him, "Oh my god you're gay aren't you?"

"Shocker, huh?"

"No. Sasuke is gay, too." She crossed her legs and pulled her pillow to her stomach. "So who sent you to talk to me?"

He turned to her, and scooted to the middle of the bed in front of her, sitting similarly. "Well, Kakashi talks about you all the time. Tells me everything since I'm staying with him for a while." His voice was a bit more serious now, "_I_ suggested that I talk to_ you. _I watched what Kakashi went through when he was in high school; I even went to school to be a therapist. I figured I might be able to help you figure out what's causing you to feel like this."

She nodded slowly, "Okay. And?"

"Well, Kakashi texted me earlier today, told me you weren't doing so well anymore. Me, being my audacious self, decided to come pay you a visit." He smiled at her, "Kakashi doesn't know I'm here, and well, maybe we should keep this meeting between us, okay?"

"Sure. So, what are we going to talk about, Mr. Therapist?"

"When did this depression stuff start?" He scratched his head and leaned back against her pillows with his fingers laced behind his head.

Sakura shrugged, "Well…probably half way through middle school."

"Okay. Have you ever seen a doctor about your problems?"

"I don't have problems; I just get really sad sometimes."

"What else do you feel when your sad like this?" He glanced around her room a few more times before looking back at her waiting for an answer.

"I just feel like there's this weight on my whole body, dragging my down. Sometimes I feel like I'm letting everyone around me down and sometimes just…angry, I guess." She hugged her pillow tighter and lay out on her side.

Both of them jumped when his phone went off. Kesuki reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his phone.

_**From: Kashi-Cakes**_

_**Where is you?**_

Kesuki slid his phone open and then snapped it shut. "Your boyfriend is looking for me."

"What'd he say?"

"Where is you?"

"What'd you say?"

"I is here."

She smiled weakly, "Wow. Your grammar is amazing."

"Thank you. Hey, how's about I give you my number and anytime you want to talk to someone besides Genma, your sister or Kakashi, you give me a call?"

She nodded and sat up, pulling her phone from her pocket, "Thanks."

**~xxx~**

**-Happy Easter Guys :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A Different Kind of Hero**

**~xxx~**

**Chapter 10**

**~xxx~**

Kakashi thrummed his fingers lightly against his rather beaten kitchen table as he listened to Kesuki shuffling about, humming as he fixed the both of them tea.

"I don't know what to do."

Kesuki shrugged, "I don't know either and you don't want me talking to her. Afraid I'll scare her off?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "You're a bad influence. Alcohol isn't the solution to- did you just pour whiskey into your tea?"

His younger brother was going to be the death of him. Kakashi groaned and pressed his hands to his face.

"I haven't had any in a couple days. Relax." He grumbled as he set Kakashi's mug in front of him. "I don't drink that much."

"Yes, Kesuki, you do."

"Has she ever seen a psychotherapist or a doctor for any of this?"

Kakashi slumped forward, "No. Why do I even bring you into this? You fix your problems with booze."

"Shut up, Kakashi. Seriously, it's getting old. Instead of riding my ass, ride Genma and Shizune about getting your girlfriend some help! Will you ever forgive yourself if something happens to her because you didn't at least try?" He looked down as he pants pocket buzzed. "Hold that thought." He pulled the cell out and read the message briefly. He typed back quickly and then looked back at his older brother, "The point is. She needs help."

Kakashi nodded slowly. "Who was that?"

"Mikaru, from Yaoi Rainbows."

"The gay bar?"

"Yeah. He's the bartender- wants to know if I'll go to dinner with him."

Kakashi smiled, "That's nice."

Xxx

Sakura smoothed her fingers over the edge of pillowcase as she laid on the couch staring blankly at the TV. Shizune and Genma were yelling at eachother in the kitchen and it made Sakura feel sick to her stomach. She reached slowly for her phone as her message tone went off.

_From; Kakashi_

_Sweetheart, you feeling any better?_

She smiled weekly and pushed herself up to a sitting position. She dragged her pillow across her lap and wrote him back slowly.

_**- Not really. Genma and Shizune are arguing, but idk about what. I wish you were here right now.**_

She sighed and stretched out to the coffee table for the remote. She tapped the power button and turned the TV off. She flipped her phone open as it went off again.

_Do you want to come over? I could pick you up._

_**- If you don't mind?**_

Sakura didn't bother saying good-bye to her older sibling or Genma when Kakashi showed up on the front steps. She just grabbed her coat off of the staircase railing and hopped in the passenger side of his jeep. She kicked her feet up on the dash and sat against the door, watching out the window as dark houses passed by.

Kakashi glanced at Sakura from the corner of his eye, "Are you going to semi-formal?"

Sakura cleared her throat and looked over at her chemistry teacher. "I don't know, probably not. It's not like I can go to dance with my boyfriend."

"I could give you a ride there. I'm sure Sasuke will want someone to talk to, what with he and Gaara going together. And should Kiba happen to show up…"

Sakura shook his head, "I don't think Kiba will mess with them. He's been gone for a few days and no body knows what's going on with him. Besides everyone is scared of Gaara."

"Mmm…" Kakashi stopped at a corner, the light overhead turning red, "I think you should go."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Why?"

"It's one of the last few big school events you'll ever go to, you'll regret not going."

Sakura shrugged and closed her eyes, "Maybe." She wasn't so sure.

When they arrived at Kakashi's complex on the other side of town, a few things occurred to Sakura. For one thing, she'd never actually been to his place. He was always at her and Shizune's mansion like house. She supposed she could understand why now, his apartment was tiny, barely big enough for one person let alone two guys, one of whom she assumed probably had a closet a mile long. The second thing she noticed was that it felt homey, despite its small size. Nothing like the empty cold she felt sometimes when she was at her house. She liked it.

"You'll have to pardon the mess; my brother leaves a lot of his stuff lying around." Kakashi said as he closed the door behind her, he smiled at her as he slipped out of his jacket. He tossed it over the back of his small leather loveseat and took her hand in his.

Sakura smiled weakly and bent down to pick up a green bedazzled beanie, "Your brothers?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes and snatched the hat away from her, "Yeah. He likes…shiny things."

Sakura nodded. She'd noticed when she'd met him. His earrings glinted and his tee had been covered in glitter. She smiled, "Shiny things?"

"Kesuki is gay, and stereotypically so."

"So he's blazing?"

"Essentially."

She followed Kakashi into his small kitchen, where Kesuki sat with an open textbook and a few notebooks scattered about the surface, she smiled at him when he look up- glasses on his nose as well as his brothers.

"Kesuki," Kakashi said, "This is Sakura. Sakura, my little brother, Kesuki."

Kesuki pushed his chair back and strode to where they stood before taking Sakura by both hands, "So you're the gorgeous piece of ass that Kakashi keeps hidden? You sure are a pretty little thing aren't you? I'm Kesuki; Kakashi's fabulous and much better looking younger brother." He kissed either of her cheeks briefly before looking over her outfit. He scoffed, "Sweatpants and a hoodie? Tsk, tsk. Not near enough sparkle."

"Wow." Sakura mocked surprise, "You weren't kidding were you, Kakashi."

"Afraid not." Kakashi walked to the stove, "You want some tea, or something to eat?"

"Tea sounds nice." Sakura offered up a fake smile and then looked to Kesuki who was now slamming his books shut.

Kesuki stood with his hand on his hip, "I'm taking your girlfriend to my room. We need to get her out of those dreadful clothes before someone sees her."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "Don't let him scare you. He's harmless, really."

Sakura let Kesuki drag her to his small bedroom where he closed the door behind them quietly. Boxes were stacked along the walls, and his bed was messy and unkempt. It reminded her a bit of Naruto's room.

Kesuki turned to her and ruffled her hair, "That's actually a really cute outfit; I love the little frilly things on the bottom of your sweater." He flopped down on his bed and smiled up at her, "So, he doesn't seem to suspect that we've met, or that we've talked. A lot."

"Nah." She sat next to him, "He's a little denser than you might think."

"Oh, god, believe me, I know. So I've been thinking of ways for you to release some of that pent up emotion."

Sakura lay back next to her lover's brother, "Oh yeah?"

Knowing Kesuki this conversation was about to go downhill, fairly quickly.

"Have you ever tried masturbating?"

"What!" She sat up and looked down at him, "What the hell?" He'd said it with a straight face

"From a doctoral stand point, it's healthy and you release endorphins and shit and it makes you feel better."

Sakura shrugged, "So? That's a little personal, don't you think?"

"Well you obviously aren't getting any from my brother. Thin walls you know, and Kakashi, well, he's a groaner."

Sakura pressed her hands to her face, "I can't believe you just said that. What the fuck, man?"

Kesuki sat up and shrugged, "It was a non-invasive means of release."

Sakura almost laughed. It was obvious which of the brothers had the brains of the family and it wasn't the young Hatake sitting across from her. She smiled, "You're such a twit."

"So I take that as a, I've thought about it but never acted on those thoughts." He smiled at her and lifted his eye brows in a mock sexy way. "Called that shit, didn't I?"

Sakura put her hands over her cheeks as they turned red with embarrassment. She didn't meet his gaze but nodded slowly. "Yeah, kinda."

"Don't be embarrassed sweetie." He gave her a pat on the cheek, "If it makes you feel better, Kakashi does it all the time."

She rolled her eyes, "Why do you tell me things like that?"

"Would it make it better if I said that I did it all the time, too? At least I've the decency to do it in the shower."

Sakura put her hands over her ears and shook her head, "Lalala, I can't hear you."

He smiled and leaned forward, ruffling her hair. "Okay, okay, I'm done."

"Thank you." She batted his hand away and fixed her hair, "So, do you actually have anything for me to wear? Since you hate-love my outfit?"

"Actually," He stood and rushed to a box on the other side of the room. He pulled his open and tossed a few things at her, "Those don't fit me anymore, but you should be able to fit them."

Sakura held up the things he'd tossed her. White leather pants, she smiled and put them to the side as she picked up the next item- a red and black striped tee for Gokage Summit. "I love it!" She told him as she picked up the last thing, a white studded hoodie, also for Gokage Summit. "Damn, where'd you get this stuff?"

"Kakashi and I are pretty good friends with some of the band members, so we get a lot of things free. CD demo's, clothes, you know, band merchandise." Kesuki sat by her and smiled, "I take it you're a fan?"

"They're my favorite." She exclaimed as she stood and unzipped her hoodie. She pulled on the tee-shirt and other hoodie quickly, "Hey it fits!"

"I told you so." He smiled at her and handed her the pants, "These might be a little tight."

She rolled her eyes as she stripped from her sweatpants. She shimmied and hopped to fit into the pants, she laid out on the bed next to Kesuki when she had them buttoned and zipped. "You are my new shopping partner. Sasuke and you are going to get along so well."

"He's your friend with the dark hair right? The really cute one?"

"Yeah." She smiled up at Kakashi's younger brother, "He's gonna be wondering where we are, you know, or rather what were doing."

Kesuki shrugged, and sighed, "He's worried about you, Sakura-chan."

She pushed herself up onto her elbows, "What do you mean?"

"I mean with your depression. He's pulling his hair out over you. He hates it when you aren't happy, Sakura. That's why I came to you last week- ah, and he still doesn't know about that….still our secret?"

"Yes."

She took in Kesuki's words for a moment after, "Next time you're over, I have something to show you. Maybe it'll help."

"Alright." He grabbed her hand and held it for a moment, "I hate to see you and or my brother unhappy. The sooner we figure you out, the better." He tapped his finger on her nose and pulled her to her feet, "Come on, our tea is probably cold."


	11. Chapter 11

**A Different Kind of Hero**

**A/N: as we all know, Fanfiction has been stepping up it's 'no MA policy', but until I'm told otherwise, this story will go on as I see fit :] and I'm very sorry for the months long delay!**

**~xxx~**

**Chapter 11**

**~xxx~**

Tea was quiet, save for Kesuki's constant babbling about how much he hated some singer's new hair cut, how his tea tasted funny, and how much he needed to get his legs waxed again.

Sakura vaguely wondered if all of his conversations with Kakashi were like this. She almost felt bad for him, but couldn't help the smile that played on her lips as Kakashi swatted at his younger brother, telling him he needed to stop talking so much. She could see the love in his eyes, the love he felt for his brother, and wondered if he'd ever thought about loving her that way.

"Thanks again, for picking me up." She said as Kesuki finished off his tea and took the glasses to wash at the sink. She grabbed Kakashi's hand and gave him a small smile. "I hate it when they fight."

"Come with me." Kakashi said, taking her hand and dragging her from the small kitchen. He led her into his bedroom and closed the door softly behind him.

Sakura sighed and sat back on his bed, she felt sad again and heavy, like the weight of the world was crushing her. She wanted to cry and scream, and just a little bit of everything.

"I'm sorry I don't know what to do to make you feel better," he murmured quietly as he crawled onto the bed next to her, pulling her into a hug. "I wish I did."

She smiled weakly, "I'm happy when we're like this. When you hold me."

"Sakura," He whispered in her ear as they lay back on the bed, "If it were up to me, I would hold you forever, just like this." He kissed her temple and sighed.

How had she ever managed to find someone so sweet and caring? How had she managed to hold onto him for this long? Anyone else would have run away.

"I wrote about you in my journal the other day. It's the first time I've wrote about anything in a long time." She told him as she lay with her head against his chest.

"Hmm…" He hummed as he kissed her forehead, "did you now?"

She nodded, "Yes." She told him as she pushed herself up onto her elbows. "I think about you a lot."

He looked up at her and stroked her cheek with his thumb before pulling her down into a long, sensual, mind-numbing kiss. He moved his lips to her jaw and kissed along it to her jaw before lying back on the bed. "I love you, Sakura."

She looked at him with shock, his confession taking her by surprise. "You…love me?"

Kakashi nodded as he threaded his fingers through her hair, "Does it really surprise you that much?"

She shook her head, "No, it surprised me that you said it." She pushed herself up and through one leg over his hips, a hand placed on either side of his head. "I love you, Kakashi."

She leaned down and kissed him, her lips sliding against his with slow, gentle movements. His hands found her sides, and then her hips and pulled her down against him. She smiled against their kiss when he sat up, pulling his shirt off over his head, only to return a hand to her hip and the other to the back of her neck, his thumb smoothing over her jaw line.

He smiled at her as he pulled back, his eyes meeting hers. "How often do you think about me?"

"Everyday, every hour and when I'll see you next." She told him as she slipped out of the shirts Kesuki had given her. "How often do you think of me?"

"Every waking moment…" He told her gruffly as he pressed his lips back to hers, laying her out on the bed with a gentle grip. "I can't get you off of my mind."

"Mmm, good."

Kakashi pressed his open palm against the flat plain of Sakura's stomach; his hand slowly slid lower, his finger tips sliding beneath the jeans she wore. Sakura's hips instinctively rose to meet his touch, and it had a smile playing at his lips as he kissed her throat.

He cupped her throbbing heat and kissed her neck when it earned him a breathy, shuddery whimper. He could feel himself growing harder against his jeans.

"I'm only asking once," Kakashi told her, whispering against the shell of her ear.

"Don't stop." she begged.

He slanted his lips against hers and nipped at her bottom lip before slowly sinking a single finger inside of her. She groaned and arched her back to meet his onslaught once more. He rubbed his thumb in circles around her clit, her entire body shuddering with pleasure.

"Do you like that, Sakura?"

"Mmhmm…" She moaned.

He leisurely thrusted his finger inside of her before adding a second. She was already wet, and it nearly had him groaning along with her as he fingered her easily, over and over again until she was panting and on the verge of her climax. He pulled his fingers from her moist depth and found the sensitive nub he'd been teasing earlier and rubbed it, circling it until her hips jumped and jerked with the nearness of her orgasm.

He teased her, kept her teetering on that fine line as he loved against her neck bringing her to the point of climax, only to bring her back down again.

He jumped, sitting up as his bedroom door slammed open with a loud 'crash'.

"Oh hey, Kakashi, where'd you put the…did I come in at a bad time?" Kesuki asked as he stood in the doorway, a grin on his face.

"Get out!" Kakashi yelled as Sakura rolled over by his side, pressing her beet-red face against his pillows.

Kesuki pouted, "But, I was about to do a load of laundry and… don't you think I could watch? Just for a while? You won't even know I'm here!"

"Go." He commanded.

The younger of the two brothers turned with a scoff and closed the door, muttering mockingly to himself. Kakashi looked down at Sakura, "Did you just die of mortification?"

She nodded, "If I'm not dead, I will be. Give it time to sink in that we were just caught doing that."

"That stupid bastard probably did it on purpose."

Sakura laughed and looked up shyly at Kakashi, "He did say you had thin walls."

"Did he now?" Kakashi laughed as he lay back out beside her. "Feel anything like finishing where we just left off?"

"Oh, I finished…" She grinned and sat up, pressing her hands against Kakashi's chest. "What about you?"

* * *

><p>School, two weeks later, was, in Sakura's opinion, rather hectic. With Semi-Formal approaching and prom only a few months after that, everyone was scrambling to have everything ready.<p>

She, Naruto and Sasuke sat in lunch and watched as the newly returned Kiba pranced about with a new air of arrogance that he hadn't had before. Sakura wanted to hit him over the head with his lunch tray, but refrained from doing so for the sake of not getting detention.

"Hey, Sas-gay!" Kiba sneered as he approached their lunch table.

Sasuke didn't even bother looking up from his book.

"What you reading you little bitch? Fifty Shades of Gay?"

Sakura glared at him, "Kiba, go away. We weren't bothering you."

"Pussies." He jeered before snagging Sasuke's book away from him.

"'Please, don't leave me!" She begged, "I love you!'" Kiba read aloud as Sasuke stood up from his seat, prepared to take back his precious book.

Sakura moved first, whacking Kiba with the flat side of her lunch tray, "Give him back his book, or everyone is going to see me beat the shit out of you."

She was so getting detention, but Kiba would too, and that made it so much more worth it. When Kiba tossed the book and instead swung for her, she was ready and blocked his first fist the tray. She caught the second and then took a swing at his face. She managed to hit his chin and grinned triumphantly as the fight really began.

##

Kakashi emerged from Asuma's room, the sound of kids cheering 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' not settling right with him. He and Asuma pushed through the crowd of kids hoarding in the cafeteria and were surprised to see not only blood covering the floor, but Sakura and Kiba in a nasty throw down.

Blood streaked down Kiba's face, while Sakura's cheek was cut and she struggled against him on the floor, her arms holding him in a head lock. Kiba tried to beat her face from the odd angle but it was to no avail.

Kakashi grabbed Sakura while Asuma grabbed Kiba and they pulled them apart, though the both of them fought to get back at one another.

"That's enough!" Asuma yelled as the kids still screamed their violent encore.

"He started it!" Sakura screamed as Kakashi pulled her away from the crowd and into the hall way.

"Calm down!" He commanded in his authoritative 'teacher voice'. "What were you thinking?"

"Fucker deserved it." She hissed as he let her go. "He deserved it."

Kakashi sighed and shook his head, "Sakura…"

* * *

><p>AN: that was eventful. The next chapter should be up much sooner. I promise.


	12. Chapter 12

**A Different Kind of Hero**

**A/N: I feel like I'm really slacking with details :/ anywhoo, sorry about the lack of details. But please enjoy this chapter!**

**~xxx~**

**Chapter 11**

**~xxx~**

This was awful.

Not in an 'oh my god, I've never had a detention before' kind of awful, more like a 'this is bullshit' kind of awful.

How had she and Kiba managed to be the only students in detention this week? Usually it seemed that the room was full of loud, smart-assed students, but today…it was silent. Worse yet, it was Kakashi's week to over see those banished to the lecture hall after school.

Detention. It was awful.

Sakura glanced at the clock and nearly groaned; for it'd only been fifteen minutes- they had three more hours to go.

Kakashi sat at the front of the room, his nose buried in one of those naughty books of his. He hadn't looked at her since he'd pulled her off of Kiba, though he hadn't looked at him either. Kiba was assigned a seat just one over from hers and the tension between them was nearly palpable. Maybe that's why Kakashi didn't look at them, he probably didn't want to spark some sort of war between them.

She peeked at Kiba from the corner of her eye and watched as he scribbled obscenities on the chemistry labs he'd missed while he'd been out of school, and every couple of seconds, he'd sigh.

Only, it didn't sound like he was doing it to be purposefully annoying, no, it was a noise she was well acquainted with. A sigh like the world had just sat on sat on his shoulders, and it was too heavy to hold up.

Sakura flipped open her doodling notebook and quickly scribbled Kiba a note:

**Why were you gone from school so long?**

She slid it towards him slowly. He ignored it for a few moments before glancing at it and pulling it closer to write his reply.

_**Why do you care? **_

She frowned at him, but he was already looking back down at the lab lying on the table.

3 weeks is a long time and it doesn't take a genius to see, or rather, hear, something is wrong.

_ Well, it seems you're a genius, you gonna tell me whats wrong with my life and say you care and understand?_

She sighed and rolled her eyes as he lay his head against the table, facing away from her. He sighed again. She pushed the notebook against his shoulder and he grumbled as he looked down at it.

** Do you know why Ino has been gone?**

He visibly paled and his hand shook slightly as he wrote another response.

_**I might. Whats it matter? Just leave me alone. Don't you hate me, or something?**_

Sakura took a quick look at his lab before writing.

**The answer to the next question is 6. Do you know where she is?**

_**…She's sick. She'll be back next week, hopefully.**_

__**Why did you apologize before you left, Kiba?**

He closed his eyes with a shaky breath as he pushed back from the table, "Mr. Hatake, may I go down to the football field? I think I left something down there."

Kakashi looked up at them, and nodded slowly, though Sakura knew that Kakashi knew that was a lie. "Just don't get caught. I don't want to get fired."

Kiba closed his folder but left it on the table as he darted from the room without another word to her.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" Kakashi asked, noticing the startled, confused look she wore.

"Fine," She answered slowly, "I don't think he is though. May I…?"

"Go on, don't get caught. Don't kill him." He mused as he looked back down at his book, "I don't make enough money to bail you out of jail."

She smiled, "Yeah, yeah. Thank you."

She left the room and rushed through the halls, hoping not to get caught. She stopped when she came face to face with Asuma after turning down another hall.

"Shouldn't you be in the lecture room?"

"I, uh… please don't turn me in. Kakashi can probably explain better than I can, but there's something I need to do."

Asuma nodded, "All right. Hurry up though, teachers conference gets out in about five minutes."

"Thank you!" She said as she pushed past him.

When she was safely outside, she had to stop and catch her breath. She slowly walked down towards the football field, her hands buried in her pockets to keep them warm.

Kiba sat on the top row of the bleachers, his head tipped back against the painted brick wall. She slowly climbed up the stairs to where he sat and took a seat next to him.

"So?" She said after a few moments of awkward silence.

"What is your problem? Why are you following me?" He groaned.

"What wrong? Normally you'd be threatening to beat me up, even though we both know who always wins." She smiled weakly, and it earned a little grin from Kiba as well. "So what happened?"

He sighed and picked his head up, his dark eyes watering as they met hers. "I tried to kill myself."

"That's not funny."

"I'm not trying to be."

Sakura couldn't think of any reason why he might kill himself. Most of the girls wanted him and he had a posse of people that followed him everywhere. He was popular. "Why?"

"Do you ever feel like the world is just weighing down on you and that you're never going to be able to push it away? My life is just so fucked, right now." He admitted as the tears started down his cheeks. "My dad hates me, beats me, and drinks way too much. My sister, Hana, doesn't really care anymore; now that she's in college she has her own problems. My mom is so disappointed in me and the messes I've made. And I hate myself, it just felt like that would be the easiest way to make everything better."

Sakura knew how most of that felt. "What happened that made your mom disappointed in you and you hate yourself?"

"Well, for starters, Ino is pregnant. She and her family want to abort it, but I want the baby. Why couldn't I have been born like you, perfect?"

"I am far from perfect, Kiba. Believe me." She told him, "I've got baggage…why would you try to kill yourself if you're going to have a kid, one you want? Things could be much worse."

"Why? Because I know one day, that child is going to ask me why Mommy doesn't want it, and why Daddy doesn't lover her, and doesn't want to be with another woman either."

"I'm confused…"

"I'm gay, Sakura. I'm a coward. I apologized to you because I admire you, but I couldn't bring myself to apologize to Sasuke because I love him, and he hates me."

"Then why do you torment us?"

"Appearances are everything in high school. I act tough by acting like an ass. My family is so close-minded…I wouldn't be able to take what Sasuke does, the teasing and public humiliation. So I hide, and hiding has given me a child with a woman I don't love."

Sakura leaned closer to Kiba and cautiously put her arms around him in a hug. "The world is a cruel place."

"Yeah, it is." He muttered as he returned the embrace. "I'm so sorry, Sakura."

She shook her head, "I wish you'd apologize to Sasuke."

"I'd like to…but…"

She pulled away from him, "I'll tell you what I'll help you with Sasuke if you help me with chemistry. Kakashi says you have, had, the highest GPA in our class."

"Help you with chemistry? Don't you have perfect grades in that class?"

"No. I'm almost failing, I'm not really good at it. I knew the answer to that lab because I have to get help on everything."

"Did you call Mr. Hatake, Kakashi?" He asked, "Little personal, don't you think?"

"Um, well…everyone has secrets." She grinned, "but that's beside the point."

"I'll help you if you tell me."

"Well, Kakashi is a good family friend…and he's at my house all the time whether with Genma and Shizune…or with me."

Kiba's brows lifted, "Are you banging him?"

"No…not really…not yet..." She laughed, "He could get fired if you tell anyone, so don't. Please."

"I won't, if you don't tell about my secret."

"It's a deal." She said as she held her hand out. Kiba shook it and then sighed, "I don't want you coming to my house if I am going to tutor you."

"That's fine…if you don't want to be around your dad, you can come to my house. Three stories and we use two rooms. It's ridiculous…"

~xxx~

Kakashi looked up from his book when the lecture hall door opened, Asuma walked in with a slight frown on his face.

"Where are they?"

"Dealing with some issues. Give them their space."

"What issues? You mean you're leaving them to murder each other? Smart." He muttered as he sat atop the desk Kakashi sat at. "Kurenai wants to know if you'd like to come over for dinner next week on Saturday."

Kakashi shook his head, "I'd love to but I can't. Rain check? I'm chaperoning for semi."

"Oh, well that's alright." Asuma paused for a moment. "You started smoking again, didn't you?"

Kakashi glanced up, "How'd you know?"

"I can smell it on you, you always liked those cheap cigs that smell."

Kakashi rolled his eyes and looked down at his hands, "Yeah, well…it's better than your expensive three-packs a day routine."

"This is true."

They both looked up as Sakura and Kiba walked into room again, this time being steered by Genma. Sakura smiled and shook her head as she and Kiba took their seats again.

Genma sighed, "I don't want to have to turn you in Kakashi. Or Asuma."

Kakashi laughed, "It's fine. They're both still alive. No harm done."

"Whatever." Genma muttered as he pulled a chair up to the desk. "I'm bored out of my mind. I was going to put grades in but Sarutobi has Ebisu upgrading everything so I'm a bit of a sitting duck."

"Same here." Asuma said. "How're you and Shizune doing?"

"Great. I think I'm going to finally ask her. I've got the ring and everything…" He looked to Sakura, "Don't you go telling her any of this."

Sakura grinned and shook her head, "I wouldn't dream of it. Oh, and the closet chocolate stash is running low."

Genma groaned, "Again? You guys go through that like I go through toothpicks. Jeez."

An awkward silence fell over the room as Kiba, Asuma and Kakashi gave them questioning looks, sending both Sakura and Genma into a fit of laughs. Sakura wiped tears from her eyes, still laughing minutes later as she listened to Genma's explanation of the chocolate stash.

**~xxx~**

Sakura stood in front of the department store mirror, smoothing out the dress she wore. Sasuke stood next to it, looking her over. "Well?"

The dress fell to mid-thigh, and hugged her curves up top. The corset type weave it had was to die for and the frilly, poofy bottom skirt was like the icing on the cake. The red, white and black details were a definite 'yes' and the playing card theme? It was perfect.

He tipped his head to the side and then righted it again. "I think you look amazing. If I weren't gay, I'd be all over you. If you know what I mean." Teasing innuendo laced his voice.

She smiled and waved off his perverse remark as she spun around in front of the mirror, the fabric of her dress splaying outward with the motion. "I love it."

"Kakashi is a lucky man. Speaking of which, I never asked you how your little plan a few weeks ago went. Did you give him a little sumt'in-sumt'in?"

"Sasuke!" Sakura scolded as she walked towards him, turning so he could unzip her dress. "I might have."

"Well? Is he, you know, impressive?" Sasuke joked as he followed her to the dressing room door. "Or does he not measure up?"

"I think that's between he and I, Sasuke. What about Gaara? Hmm?" She asked with a grin as she stepped into the small room, closing the door behind her.

"He's…average. I wouldn't be ashamed of it, but I wouldn't brag either."

"I can't believe you just said that." She laughed as she stripped down and redressed in her original clothes. A pair of jeans, a t-shirt and classic black Chucks.

Sasuke laughed, "Now you have to tell me. How's he hanging?"

"Better than you."

"Oh, you're cruel." He joked as she stepped out, handing him the dress. "Come on, seriously…I swear I won't tell!"

She shook her head, "Cut it out, you fool. Let's just pay for this and go find Naruto- he's probably bored out of his mind waiting for us."

"I'm pretty sure I saw him go into Victoria's Secret. He's probably doing just fine."

Sakura laughed aloud, and leaned her head against Sasuke's shoulder, "All the more reason to hurry."

"No, no I'm here. The lady in there kept spraying me in the face with perfume." Naruto said as he came up behind them. "You can smell me a mile away."

Sasuke shook his head, "You smell like a French whore."

"Indeed, you do." Sakura said with a giggle as she paid. She turned to Sasuke and Naruto, "Let's go get lunch. There's something I need to tell you both."

They both eyed her suspiciously, but nodded.

When they were all seated with their meals, Sakura cleared her throat. "You promise to keep an open mind, because it's not what you think?"

Sasuke glared at her over his pizza slice, "What is it Sakura? Just spit it out."

"Yeah, Sakura. Spill it." Naruto encouraged from his bowl of ramen. "We'll always back you up, you know that."

She closed her eyes and sighed before opening them and looking to the bother of them. "Kiba is living with me now."

Naruto's bowl clattered to the table, as well as Sasuke's pizza as they both stared, open-mouthed at her.

She groaned, of course they had that reaction. "Say something."

Naruto spoke first, "How about, what the hell are you thinking? Sworn enemy, remember?"

Sasuke remained open mouthed, speechless from shock.

"I said it's not what you think."

"Then what is it Sakura? I really fucking confused! This guy punched you in the face and punched Sasuke in the face, more than once. So what the hell is going on?" Naruto demanded, standing from his seat.

Sakura frowned, "There are some things I can tell you, and others I can't. He's staying with me because I said he could, and I ran it by Shizune and Genma already. He's in an abusive household- he tried to kill himself."

Sasuke shook his head, "So, you just take him in like a sick puppy?"

"I know what it's like to feel so lost and desolate that you want to just leave everything. I couldn't let him stay in that situation. No matter how much we may dislike him, it's not right to let him stay in a situation where his life is at risk, is it?"

"Fuck, Sakura, he's cruel to us!" Naruto whined as he sat down, "Why? What's the reasoning?"

"Naruto, she's right." Sasuke muttered. "We may not like him, but I certainly don't wish any danger to his life."

Naruto grunted and crossed his arms over his chest, "Yeah, me neither."

**~xxx: xxx :xxx~**

**A/N**: Thank you to the _ever fabulous_, _ever amazing, ever wonderful_ **JinxingtheWorld** for designing Sakura's semi-formal dress!


	13. Chapter 13

**A Different Kind of Hero**

A/N: While thinking of a theme song for Kesuki, the following songs entered my mind:

_**Shut and Sleep with Me**_ by Sin with Sebastian

_**Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy**_ by Tata Young

_**Straight Boys**_ by Jeffree Star

_**Lollipop Luxury**_ by Jeffree Star

_**Bitch, Please!**_ By… Jeffree Star

_**Beauty Killa**_ by …..Jeffree Star

Needless to say, Jeffree Star seems to write anthems for Kesuki to live by XD

**~xxx: Chapter 13 :xxx~**

Sakura stopped at the top of her steps, with her hand resting on the doorknob. The bag she held in her other hand, the one with her dress, rustled lightly with the cool breeze blowing around her.

The evening was relatively warm, a toasty forty-five degrees and it made her think about doing something she hadn't done in a very long time. She used to crawl out on the roof, with her laptop in hand and write for hours- back when her depression had first started.

She felt like doing that, she decided as she opened the door and let herself inside. She'd grab her laptop, and her heavier coat and sit up on the roof.

She smiled at her little plan as she settled her shopping bag on the stairs. She quickly unzipped the thin jacket she wore and hung it over the stair case railing, her hat and gloves following after that.

She walked into the kitchen, only to stop in the threshold, Kiba standing at her sink washing dishes. That's right, he was living with her now. She wouldn't lie; it was taking some getting used to. A young man who was once her sworn enemy was now her roommate of sorts, though his room was next to hers.

"Hey, Kiba…" She said as she padded across the kitchen to the fridge. She opened it and pursed her lips as she decided what it was she wanted.

"Hello, Sakura. Mr. Shiranui and Shizune asked me to tell you that they'd be out." He told her, looking up from the plate in his hand.

Sakura's eyes flicked over to him quickly, "I figured…" She pulled out one of the many water bottles lining the inner door, and closed the fridge before turning back to Kiba. "You know you can call him Genma here, right? You live with us now."

"I know it's just…odd being on familiar terms with a teacher."

She couldn't help but smile, "Then imagine what some days in chemistry are like for me." She murmured with a light giggle as she opened her water. "Odd doesn't even cut it."

He grinned and rinsed the plate, resting it in the rack on the counter. "How did you two even get to that point?"

She shrugged, "You know that feeling you get when you watch those cheesy romance movies and the sexual tension is so strong that it's nearly palpable?"

"Yeah."

"Nothing like that."

He couldn't help but to laugh, "Then what was it like?"

"It was kind of like a pull, I guess. We danced around each other for a bit, and it just…happened." She admitted as they walked from the kitchen to the stairwell.

She paused, as a thought crossed her mind. Show him your journal…. She tried to shake it away, but there was something that made it keep coming back. Maybe it was because he had trusted her wholeheartedly with his issues that she wanted to share some of hers, and not just with Kakashi who had gone through something similar but was no longer experiencing it so severely.

"I want to show you something, Kiba." She said as she started up the stairs, "Come on."

Dark eyes watched her apprehensively, but he nodded and followed her up to the third floor and into her bedroom. He quickly glanced around it, having never been before.

"I like this color blue." He said as he touched her wall, a whisper of a smile on his face. His eyes moved to the many pictures on her wall about her bed. "You guys are really close, aren't you?"

Sakura hummed lightly in response as she sat on her bed and picked up her laptop from the floor. She quickly turned it on and turned back to him, "Remember when I said I had baggage?"

He nodded and sat next to her.

"Well, I'm depressed. I have been for years and it comes and goes, there are days when I fall apart an others when I just don't have the will to do anything. It's hard sometimes, but I do understand what you're going through and I want to show you my tech-journal. Before this year, everything that happed to me, everything I felt, went in here."

Kiba sat silently and watched as she opened the file, the page number catching his eye. "Six-hundred and two?"

"I started it freshman year. Some entries are small paragraphs and others are pages long. Naruto and Sasuke know I write in it, but they've never seen it."

"Am I mentioned in there anywhere?" 

She sighed and nodded, "Yes. I haven't been keeping up with my entries the last few weeks, but I have a lot of things to write about now, and I can finally…I can finally write about you without any malice." She cleared her throat, "I must admit though that Kakashi was right."

"Right about what?" Kiba asked with a confused look on his face, his head tilted slightly to the side. It reminded her of a dog.

"Do you remember the day you dumped your lunch on me?"

His lips pulled into a grim line but he nodded, "I'm sorry I did that."

"Well, when I ran off, it was Kakashi who found me and we talked. He figured you were gay before the thought ever crossed my mind. He's very good at reading people." She recalled the day with a frown, but shook her head. "You know, not everything in my journal about you is bad. I remember in ninth grade, you and I were partners for the science fair and our display and article won first place. It was your idea to do it on the mutative habits of the flu virus. You have a real knack for science, don't you?"

He smiled, a wide toothy grin, "You could say that. It's my favorite subject. For the longest time I wanted to be a chemist."

"Oh?"

She liked this. She liked getting to know him because once his hard and cruel outside was looked past he was a total nerd, a kind friendly nerd. It was a wonderful change of perspective.

"Mmm, but now I'm leaning towards bio-chemical engineering."

"Wow." She said, her jaw dropping slightly. "I could never do anything that, I'd like to go into diagnostics but chemistry is a must and I'm not good at it."

"It's easy once you get it," He said, leaning back on his hands, "I'll help you tomorrow with the lab that's due Monday. You haven't gotten help on it yet, have you?"

She shook her head, "No, I usually go in after school."

"So I'll help you get it done, and then you can stay after for other reasons."

She swatted his arm, "Hey, hey not in school. He could be fired for it."

"So close and lock the door, duh." He teased as he tapped her temple with a single finger.

Sakura looked down at her pants pocket as her phone went off. She handed her laptop to Kiba and hopped off of the bed, pulling the cell from her jeans.

"Hello? Oh, hi Kesuki!"

She listened to him ramble into her ear about how he'd had a great time with the bartender from Yaoi Rainbows, but he didn't want anything serious with him. Her eyes went to Kiba and she smiled deviously, the grin lighting her face with a dark humor.

"Where are you right now… Oh, yes, I'd love if you'd come over. There's someone I want you to meet…Yes. Okay, see you in ten."

Kiba frowned at her, "Who was that?"

"Kesuki."

He raised a single brow.

"He's Kakashi's younger brother. I think you and he need to meet. If you admire Sasuke, you'll worship Kesuki."

"Why's that?"

~xxx~

"Hello love!" Kesuki said in a bright, singsong voice as he wrapped his arms around Sakura and swung her about. He kissed both of her cheeks before heaving a heavy over dramatic sigh. "Dear, your hair is a mess. What on earth did you do to it? I hope you didn't go out looking like that." He scolded lightly as he dragged her to her vanity to brush it out.

"I can do it myself, Kesuki, there's someone I want you to meet." She said taking his hand and turning him so he was facing Kiba. "Kesuki, this is Kiba. Kiba, this is Kesuki."

Kiba's jaw was slightly dropped and Kesuki clicked his tongue, crossing his arm over his chest. "Closet gay. Definitely."

"Uh…" Kiba stuttered, "How did you…?"

"Please, honey, there is no fooling my gaydar." Kesuki walked, or rather, pranced to Sakura's bed and took Kiba's jaw in his manicured hands and turned him about. "Oh, he's a cute one. Pretty eyes. Hon, stand up for me."

Kiba did as he was told and slowly stood, watching Kesuki nervously as he walked around him. Sakura couldn't help but smile as Kiba looked to her mouthing 'what the hell?' She shrugged and sat in her vanity chair. She quickly brushed her hair and continued watching Kesuki's appraisal.

"I like him. He's very cute, maybe even more so than your dark haired friend Sakura. He's like a little puppy, I want to take him home and cuddle him."

"I don't know how Kakashi would feel about that." Sakura laughed at the thought of Kakashi walking in to find Kesuki love-mauling Kiba by petting his hair or some other awkward thing he could do to treat the Inuzuka like a puppy.

"Oh, Sakura-love I don't really think he'd mind, would he?"

"I'm still here." Kiba muttered.

"I know." Kesuki cheered, ruffling his hair, "So cute. Sakura-love, where ever did you find him? I must know."

"He's living with me. I go to school with him."

"Wonderful." He said happily as he clapped his hands together. "You know babe, we need to have a girl's night."

"You could stay tonight, since you're already here. I have some things you can borrow."

He tapped his chin in thought for a moment, "Is it okay with your cute friend?"

Sakura looked to Kiba, "You cool if he stays the night? I promise, he has enough self-control not to jump you in your sleep."

Kiba looked puzzled but cleared his throat. "Sure, but can I ask him something?"

"Anything, love!" Kesuki said as he threw his arm over Kiba's shoulder.

"Why do you sparkle?"

Kesuki laughed, ruffling Kiba's hair again, "Silly boy. I buy those small bottles of glitter, the ones that come with the face brushes and just pour them over my head in the mornings. I like being shiny. My panties even have sequins today!"

"Oh." Kiba said dumbly, "Wait, did you say panties?"

Kesuki sat, with a smug look on his face and crossed his legs. "I did."

"You wear panties?"

"Well, they're more like boxer briefs, and I sewed the sequins in, but I'm wearing sequined underwear all the same."

Sakura fell forward with a loud snorting laugh at how seriously mind-fucked Kiba looked. Damn she loved Kesuki, he and his overly dramatic, glittering ways.

The younger Hatake sighed, "What shall we do tonight, Sakura-love? Shall we watch a movie? Will you join us Kiba honey?"

Kiba looked between Sakura and Kesuki and swallowed hard. "Yeah. Why not?"

Sakura smiled, Kiba's uneasiness not going unnoticed but that he was willing to give a few hours with Kesuki a try made her feel happy inside. Maybe hanging with the zealous Hatake would do Kiba some good and he would work enough confidence up to speak with Sasuke. And if worse came to worse, he'd have at least met Kesuki who would be more than willing to help him out.

~xxx~

_I've been putting of my writing for so long, I feel almost out of it writing here once again. _

_So I'll start with the most recent of events. A long time enemy, Kiba Inuzuka, is an enemy no longer. While I wouldn't say we were good friends, I believe what we have is a good start. One founded on trust in one another. What better to be the building block of a relationship?_

_I've also introduced him to the eccentric Kesuki- a man to truly marvel. He embraces who he is wholeheartedly- glitter and all, however stereotypical he may seem. Gotta' love him. It's makes me curious as to what he'd be like if he weren't gay? Had his role and Kakashi's been switched? Ah, things to marvel at and ponder. _

_Whatever the case, I hope that in finding a friend in Kiba that it will do me as well as him, some good. We could both use it._

_Well, until a little later, because we're going to watch __**Kiss The Bride, **__and all I can say is "The gays, they make too much big crazy."_

**~xxx: xxx :xxx~**

**A/N: Short, I know…but come on, you have got to love Kesuki! :D**


End file.
